War of Demons
by Bookkbaby
Summary: AUish. YAOI. SasuNaru see inside for rest of pairings. Humans have intruded on a sacred spot for demons, and now the demons are attacking. The Hokage leads the humans, Kyuubi leads the demons. But could the two highest ranking demons actually be falling i
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I'm back with another Naruto fic! Thsi one's been floating around in my mind for a while- it'll be the first in a four- to five-part series. The sequels don't really have to be read, but if everyone loses interest in this then I probably will write them anyway.  
Boy, that was pointless.  
Anyways, DISCLAIMER:  
If I owned them, wouldn't Sasuke and Naruto be an official couple by now? They're not? Well, then, I don't own!  
Pairings: SasukeNaruto, KakashiIruka, LeeSakura, InoShikamaru, GaaraOC (NOT a Mary Sue), and maybe more later.

There was a time not too long ago when humans and demons warred over something the humans did not understand. The humans had ignorantly built their hidden villages over places held sacred to demons, desecrating them. While the demons could have stood their intuding into their territory, they would not stand for their holy grounds to be ruined by ignorant humans. Hoping to scare them off, they attacked and killed many. The humans- hurt and confused- retaliated. Thus, a great war between ninja and demons stared. A few ninja villages sank into oblivian while others stayed to fight to the bitter end. On the battlefield, soon only Sand and Leaf stood against the might of the demon leaders. The nins of Konoha and Sand fought proudly and courageously and killed many demons, just as they themselves were being killed.

This is where the story starts. A story of war, blood, and death, but also joy, love, and rebirth.

The Nine-Tails paced about his chamber, waiting for news from his second-in-command - Shukaku. They, being the most powerful of demons, had been called to duty as generals.

A knock came at his door.

"Come in." Kyuubi growled. The door opened, revealing Gaara, Shukaku's human form. In the presence of Kyuubi, Gaara transformed into his demon self, known only as Shukaku because- in the demon world- names weren't important. Only power was, so names given at birth were usually quickly forgotten.

"What happened?" Kyuubi asked. "We've lost more soldiers, haven't we?"

"Yes." Shukaku said. "Our spy was passed misinformation because they suspected him of being a demon spy. He sent our men to the most protected area of the village- he sent them into an ambush and was shortly after killed by the humans that had tricked him." Kyuubi sighed in exasperation.

"Can't anyone properly infiltrate Konoha and Sand? With them gone, we will once more have our holy grounds! We lose more and more men everytime we send an inferior officer."

"Perhaps we should go ourselves them." Shukaku said. "I'm getting bored with this waiting and I never get to fight."

"You're right. The human leader is stationed in Konoha- it's only fitting that I take that job. You will go to Sand. You already know what to do." Shukaku nodded, transforming into his human self.

"Yes." Gaara said, exiting the chamber door. Behind him, Kyuubi also transformed into a small blond boy with bright blue eyes.

"Let's go." Naruto said, smirking, then disappeared to the gates of Konoha.

Gaara strode up to the gates, absently noting the guards and dismissing them as no threat.

"Halt! State your name and business here." one shouted- a man of about thirty, lightly scarred on his face and with messy brown hair. Gaara glanced at him sideways.

"Gaara. I've been sent from Konoha to assist you." he lied easily. Everytime they had sent a demon to pose as a guard they were let in without question. It was not to be so this time.

"Demons have recently come and posed as guards- what's to say you're not a demon?" the other guard asked. A woman, Gaara noted with some surprise. She had no scars, but black hair and couldn't have been more than twenty.

Gaara frowned, glaring at the woman. He knew perfectly well he had no proof of him being a shinobi. The woman met his stare evenly, though he could see a small hint of fear behind her eyes- she was just slightly intimidated.

"If I best one of you in battle, will that convince you?" Gaara asked.

"It might show us that you're strong, but it won't help us convince us you're not a demon." the man said.

"Then take me at my word." Gaara said, intensifying his glare.

"We can't do that, but we can take you to the Kazekage. He can decide if you should be allowed to... 'assist' us in the war." the woman said. "When we do let you inside the gates, you must swear not to harm anyone inside. We'll also take your weapons." Gaara nodded. It was no big deal for him to lose the metal weapons he had brought- a few of the small knives that the nins he had fought referred to as kunai, a few needles, and one long sword. No one would think to relieve him of the heavy gourd of sand on his back- they didn't think of it as a weapon, even though he was deadliest with the sand.

The gates opened. Gaara smiled.

'Mission accomplished.' he thought to himself, stepping inside the gates of Hidden Sand.

Naruto walked casually along the path to Konoha. He knew that it would be difficult to get inside- the humans might have caught on to how the demons were infiltrating and may have started to be more suspicious. Absently, he hoped that Gaara had gotten in with no problem. He and Shukaku went way back.

Before too long, he spotted the gate. He strode up to them confidently, but before he had taken more than five steps he was stopped by a rather large, sharp object pointed at his throat.  
Naruto glanced up from the sword to the man holding it. The man had a thin face, but no scars and had black hair, tied back in a long ponytail.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" the man asked, suspicious. Naruto put on his best grin and replied happily.

"No need to kill me! I'm from Sand- they sent me to help out over here. Honest." he said, holding his hands up in a universal gesture of 'I'm not hiding any weapons, I come in peace.'. He could see that the man was confused, but the sword didn't drop.

"Why would they send a kid? Why aren't there more nins with you? They wouldn't have sent just one..."

"Well, there were more, but they all got killed by some demons. I managed to get away to warn you." Naruto lied quickly, praying the guy believed him. Fortunately for Naruto, the man was kind.

"Dead? How many more were there? How many demons? How close?" he asked. Naruto inwardly grinned.

'Sucker.' he thought.

"There were eight of us total, but three demons attcked- they were so strong! Our leader told me to run here to warn you, and I've been running ever since. That was three days ago. I haven't seen them since."

"Let's get you inside." the man said, marching Naruto over to the gate and nodding to his fellow guard.

Just like that, the two most powerful demons infiltrated the last safe places for humans.

A/N: Sorry if it seemed unrealistic, or confusing, or OOC. It's fanFICTION. Besides, the sooner I get through the beginning parts, the sooner we get to the good bits! Please tell me if I misspelled anything or if there is a glaring plothole already. (Probably won't be, only 1st chapter, but ah well...) 


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks to all my reviewers! Sorry this took so long to get out!

Gaara closely watched the young woman leading him around. She seemed strong enough to be a decent shinobi, yet usually women didn't enter into the ninja academy from what he'd gathered.  
'Perhaps she's from an old family. A proud, ninja family.' Gaara thought. He felt strangely drawn to this woman, though he wouldn't quite admit it. It felt as though he shared a connection with her. He shook such thoughts off, suddenly angry with himself.

He was a demon, and as such had no feelings other than bloodlust, hate, and joy when bringing fear. He was supposed to terrorize- especially him. He, who had done such awful things in his past, who even lesser demon feared... he especially wasn't supposed to have feelings, and even more so no feelings for an enemy. When it came down to it, he would have to kill her or order her killed.

He was brought out of his thoughts by the woman's voice.

"We've arrived." she said, looking over at him.

'Stop thinking.' Gaara ordered himself, staring up at what must have been the Kazekage's building. It was grand and imposing.

'Just like humans to make it so easy to find their leaders. It's like posting a sign saying 'Here he is, come and kill him.'' Gaara smirked a little at the thought, but the smirk quickly disappeared.

"Follow me." the female shinobi said, walking into the building. Gaara stayed silent and followed quietly.

Naruto glanced around the village of Konoha. Smelly human brats ran around in their yards, their mothers keeping a close eye on the. A few people glanced at him as he passed, obviously curious but cautious as well.

'As well they should be.' Naruto thought, following the nin who had so kindly and trustingly let him in.

'He's probably taking me to the Hokage- the human general. From what we gathered, the Hokage rules over even the Kazekage, the leader of Sand. Konoha is still fighting, but Sand is near dead.' Naruto couldn't hide a smirk at this. He had managed to get into the most guarded place for the humans without breaking a sweat and would be taken to see the one person that was able to keep the war going.

"We're here. Hokage-sama will be with you in a moment, if he has time. Please wait." The ninja bowed politely, then quickly turned to locate the Hokage, leaving Naruto outside the Hokage's headquarters. Naruto glanced around, bored. Apparently, Konoha was so small they had to squish the Hoakge's HQ by the hospital, a few small stores, and homes. Naruto glanced at the hospital, sniffing the air. The stench of blood was there, as well as disinfectant and death. Suddenly, the door to the hospital opened, and a girl with annoyingly pink hair walked out stiffly, eyes red. She had been crying, Naruto noted, smelling the saltwater. Suddenly, a girl with bright plantinum hair ran out after her, hugging her and crying as well. Naruto could clearly hear what they were saying from him spot in the doorway of the HQ.

"-I'm so sorry. I know that it can't make up for it-" the platinum-haired girl said.

"It's not your fault, Ino. It's the demons, and mine. I wasn't there to protect them. Mom, and Dad... " The pink-haired girl collapsed, sobbing. "They're dead, and I couldn't do a thing! Tsuande-san is teaching me, but I couldn't do anything to help them!" Naruto felt a small stab of guilt pass through him. He had never really cared about the humans he was killing. They were just things trying to kill him, beings that had invaded demon territory. Things to play with and kill. He had never had to face the grieving of humans, only the sorrow of demons as one close to them was killed. Demon mouring was so much different- most didn't allow anyone close, but when one demon did get close to another, the results were catastrophic when one died. He had hated the humans more and more for each demon that died and was mourned.

He had never seen a human cry for another like this.

"I'll go get Lee. He isn't dead- you still have family left, Sakura! And we're practically sisters- I'm still here." The girl that had been called Sakura just nodded.

"Come on, get up- you can sit down on a bench until Lee gets here." Again, Sakura nodded and let her friend- Ino- help her up and sit her on a bench near where Naruto stood.

"You goning to be okay? I'll be right back." Ino said. Sakura nodded, still crying.

"I want... I want to see Lee." Ino nodded and left, leaving Sakura to cry.  
Curiously, Naruto walked closer to the crying human. A twig snapped under him, causing Sakura to look up in shock and fear, almost jumping out of her seat. She calmed when she saw what was apparently a human man.

"Who are you?" she asked. "Did you come to help? With the war, I mean. That's usually the only reason people travel now, and I haven't seen you before..." she babbled, quickly wiping her eyes. "I'm sorry, this must be awkward." Before her face was dry, the tears started to fall again.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto- from Sand. I did... come to help with the war. Why are you crying?" he asked, even though he knew perfectly well why. He couldn't explain the sudden impulse to talk to her- he felt like he had to find out exactly why she was crying. Why did she mourn?

"My... my parents are dead. They were just watching the house when the demons attacked." Sakura's voice choked up then. "They weren't ninjas or anything. They were just killed for being here, and I was on watch. I was too far away to help. By the time I got to them, demons were already ripping them a- apart." Sakura had dissolved into tears by now.

"I'm sorry." Naruto said. He hadn't realized how difficult it would be for him to carry out his self-assigned mission until now.

"Well, it's not like I'm the only orphan. There are hundreds of kids without their p-parents. It's just... I always felt s-sorry for them, but now my parents are g-gone..." Sakura was still crying. Naruto looked at her sadly.

Demons never formed close ties with their parents- the parents abandoned the kids as soon as the kids were able to walk. Many ended up killing their parents themselves.

'Is that the main difference between humans and demons? For each human killed, many mourn. Very few mourn or even realize if a demon is killed.' He was brought out of his thoughts by a gentle hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see the man that had led him there.

"Hokage-sama will see you now." The man turned and started walking. Worldlessly- with one more glance over his shoulder- he followed.

"Kazekage-sama, we found this man outside our gates. He claims to be a reinforcement from Konoha, and has requested to battle a ninja to prove himself useful." the woman said. The man sitting at the desk- the Kazekage, Gaara assumed, as he wore long white robes and had a large hat with the character for 'wind' on it- looked up from his paperwork. He was a thin man, with one large scar across his face from below his right ear almost to his left ear. His skin- from what could be seen- was tan and slightly sunburned.

"Is that so?" he asked, looking at Gaara. Gaara nodded- that was his cover story, and he was getting rather bored just walking around.

"Well then, we should give you the chance to prove yourself. Nekoi!" he called. Beside Gaara, a young man with brown hair materialized.

"Yes?" Nekoi asked. The Kazekage gestured to Gaara.

"I want you to fight him. He wants to prove himself capable of fighting in the war." Gaara studied his soon-to-be opponent. Small but strong, no doubt. Gaara faced him.

"Yes sir." Nekoi said, not acknowledging Gaara yet. The Kazekage turned to the woman that had lead Gaara there.

"Yami, watch the fight. Make sure that neither recieve serious wounds- we can't afford a casualty from a friendly fight. Stop it if it gets too serious." The woman- Yami- nodded.

'So that's her name- 'shadow'.' Gaara thought.

"You're dismissed." the Kazekage said, waving them away. The three left the office, Nekoi motioning for them to follow him.

A/N: Like it? Hate it? Sorry if the characters are a bit OOC, but this is an AU, so they will be a bit different.  
If you have any ways for me to improve, please tell me instead of complaining to your computer screen about what a lousy fic this is. 


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks all for the lovely reviews! You feed my muse and make her happy enough to let me write this next chapter! Keep the momentum flowing and the praise going!

Naruto studied the man before him. From what he could tell, he and the Hokage were about the same age- or at least, Naruto's human body looked to be about the same age.

The Hokage had dark hair, pale skin, and eyes as black as coal.

"Reinforcement from Sand, you said?" The Hokage frowned

"Yeah- I was sent by Kazekage-sama, but the other people with me died." Naruto said, attempting to express sorrow for his 'dead comrades'. The Hokage studied him with his piercing dark eyes, apparently still suspicious.

"Fine. We'll let you help- but only on guard duty until we're sure. You understand, we can't take another soldier of... questionable origin. Konoha's lost about half her population already. You'll be paired with Kakashi for the time being." A bored-looking nin with spikey grey hair and a young face stepped out from behind the young Hokage, nodding.

"Nice to meet you." Naruto said, grinning.

"Report for duty at seven'o'clock at the front gate- morning shift." The Hokage said. "Welcome to the Hidden Village of Leaf." Naruto's eyes bugged out of his head.

"Seven!"

"Yes. Dismissed." the Hokage said. "I suggest you find a place to sleep." Naruto turned, not missing the small smirk on the Hokage's face. He walked away, grumbling.

Sasuke's smile faded as he watched the young man- Uzumaki Naruto- walk away. A determined look took its place.

"Kakashi." he said, knowing the nin would hear him.

"Yeah, Sasuke-kun?" Kakashi said, drawing a book from his pocket and flipping it opened to the bookmark. Sasuke ignored the familiar tone that Kakashi used- the man had been his teacher and would probably always see him as his student, even if he did have to follow Sasuke's orders.

"Be careful around him- I want you to watch him. Whenever not on guard duty, your mission is to gather information about him. Got it?"

"Aa." Kakashi said, as though he expected it. Knowing him, he probably had. "Anything else?"

"That's all. You may go now." Quietly, Kakashi disappeared, leaving Uchiha Sasuke- the Hokage- to reflect about his decision.

'What is it about that man- Uzumaki Naruto? I could tell he was lying- so why the hell did I let him stay?' Sasuke shook his head, ignoring the recognition his soul had felt when he had seen the blonde.

Gaara slowly followed Nekoi and Yami, smirking inwardly.

'They're so desperate for reinforcements that they'd take anyone.' he thought. 'I'll have no trouble defeating this guy, and then all the secrets of their military will be open to me.' As Gaara saw it, only the small man walking ahead of him with Yami stood between him and the end of his mission.

Gaara heard the murmur of conversation ahead of him. Slightly curious, he listened.

"-will you go out with me?" Nekoi was saying. For some odd reason, Gaara felt the first slight stirrings of anger.

"No." Yami said, sounding slightly tired, as if she had heard this question a dozen times before.

"Why not?" Nekoi asked, sounding very confident.

'A womanizer- probably not used to be refused.' Gaara thought, now smirking outwardly at the fact that Yami had refused him.

"The war, for one. The fact that it's you for another." Yami said, turning and glaring at Nekoi.

"The war is no big deal." Nekoi said confidently. Gaara was beginning to like him less and less- he would enjoy teaching this particular human a lesson. "I'm strong- I'll protect you, Yami."

Gaara almost growled. Something about Yami was drawing him in- he felt connected to her, though he couldn't explain how. The urge to protect her was almost overwhelming. Almost as if...

Gaara stopped suddenly, processing his thoughts.

He had heard other demons- mated demons- describe the connection they had felt upon meeting their mate. Often they had disregarded it before realizing their attraction to the other.

'It's probably nothing more than commonplace lust. It'll pass.' Gaara thought. He tried to recall when the last full moon was- last week.

'That can't be right.' Gaara traced back the phases of the moon. It would have been a full moon last week- he shouldn't lust for anything, be it sex or blood until the next full moon. Demons had cycles, and his kind were always more dangerous around the full moon. He shouldn't be feeling like this, unless...

Unless the soul-deep connection he felt with the human woman- Yami- meant what he thought it did.

Gaara shoved the feelings aside, deciding to examine them in-depth later. It wouldn't help him now.

"Are you coming or not?" Gaara blinked, realizing that Nekoi was calling to him from about ten feet ahead. Nekoi looked exasperated, as if he had been calling for a while.

"Scared? Don't worry, I'll go easy on you. I am a jonin, after all. I can see why you'd be intimidated." Nekoi said. Gaara fought down the urge to kill the other man then and there.

'I have killed hundreds with more strength than you- oftentimes all at once.' Gaara thought privately.

"How much farther?" he asked instead.

"Another ten minutes. No spacing out." Nekoi said. "You could get hurt. It's dangerous."

'You're playing with fire, lecturing me about danger. It's staring you in the face.' Gaara thought. "Walk, then."

Nekoi rolled his eyes, then sighed in an obviously overexaggerated fashion and began to walk again, occasionally hitting on Yami, pissing Gaara off to no end even if Gaara would not yet admit it.

"We're here." Yami said, anger evident in her voice. She tossed Gaara his confiscated weapons pouch, knowing he'd need it if he was going to fight Nekoi. She would much rather be at her apartment at the moment, but instead she had to spend time with Nekoi- the Creep as she liked to call him- and a strange man who may or may not be a demon.

'Oh, joy!' Yami thought, heavy on the sarcasm, watching Gaara catch the punch and fasten it to his leg.

"Yes we are. Are you ready?" Nekoi asked Gaara, going to the middle of the large, flat area of sand they had arrived at. Gaara looked around. The sand was packed, creating a nice layer on which to walk or fight. The area was wide enough to fight easily, and no rocks or other objects littered the surface.

"Yes. Are you?" Gaara asked, face expressionless as he mocked the nin. Nekoi glared, seemingly able to grasp the fact that he was being looked down on by Gaara.

"Begin." Yami said, just as Nekoi leaped at Gaara, drawing a kunai and bringing it down to where Gaara's shoulder was. It would have been painful, had it connected. A second before it hit, Gaara grabbed Nekoi's wrist and turned. Something cracked loudly, but then Nekoi disappeared, leaving Gaara holding a log, one of the branches broken off in his hand.

Gaara turned, just in time to catch one of Nekoi's punches in his hand, just before Nekoi broke his nose.

"That was one of the most obvious tricks in the book." Gaara said, looking bored. Nekoi's face was twisted with rage.

"Damn you." he said, then yanked his hand free and flipped over Gaara's head, going for a kick that would knock Gaara out. Gaara simply dropped and rolled, getting to his feet just in time to see Nekoi rush in. Quickly, Gaara dodged the first swing, then the second before throwing an uppercut to Nekoi's gut.

"Ugh..." Nekoi moaned, rolling away from Gaara and getting up to his feet shakily.

"Is that all?" Gaara asked. Nekoi glared, shaking his head.

"Oh, no it's not. Now the gloves come off." Quickly, Nekoi started to move his hands in certain strange ways- Gaara had heard them referred to as 'seals'. He knew their end result, though- a jutsu, a technique that many ninja used by manipulating their chakra. Demons also had chakra, but they could naturally manipulate it to do as they desired. Humans had a more difficult time- thus the seals, Gaara supposed.

The seals stopped suddenly, and Nekoi disappeared. Gaara just had time to be alarmed before he felt a hard hit across his jawbone, knocking his head to the side and making him lose his footing. He fell, rolling with the blow, and stood, rubbing his cheek.

"You're quick." he said. Nekoi smirked and put his foot down from his kicking position.

"I'm known for my speed jutsus. No one has been able to beat me yet." Nekoi bragged. Gaara felt a vague memory stirring- reports of demons taken out before they had seen the nins move.

'It must take a lot of energy, though. He can't do too many more.' Gaara thought, seeing Nekoi make the hand motions again.

"I'll give you this, though- not many have stayed up after my first hit when I use this jutsu." Nekoi completed the seals and disappeared again. Gaara had no time to react before he felt a punch hit his gut. He breathed out hard, coughing a little, before collapsing to his knees.

'He's fast.' Gaara acknowledged. 'I can't react before he hits me.' Gaara wasn't too fond of being hit unless the mission called for it. This mission didn't call for it.

"That's all you're known for? Your speed?" Gaara said, standing up slowly and reaching behind himself to the stopper on his gourd. "Since you showed me your best, I'll show you what I am known for." Gaara didn't mention that he rarely used his sand for this kind of combat- it was his way of turning back into his demon self, but he could also use it as a human, if need be.  
Gaara began to randomly move his hands, not really noticing the pattern, but he knew that the humans would get suspicious if he didn't seem to rely on seals as all the human ninja did. He may as well paint the word 'demon' of his forhead if he just manipulated his chakra without the seals.

He stopped the hand motions, then stood still.

"Come." he said, motioning Nekoi forward as he commanded the sand in his gourd to flow out, getting ready to protect himself. Nekoi looked shocked, but then angry as he performed the seals again and darted forward. Gaara held still, not needing to move.  
Nekoi aimed his kick at the small of Gaara's back, but before he could connect sand collected and stopped his leg.

"What the-" he said, jumping back rather ungracefully. Gaara looked over his shoulder.

"You'll have to be quicker. Very little gets past this jutsu." Gaara said calmly, easily adopting the human way of calling his attack a jutsu.

Nekoi snarled at him and prepared to do his speed jutsu again, but was very obviously getting tired. Before he could so much as complete one seal, Gaara extended his hand and encased his opponent in a blanket of sand, leaving just his face visible. He kept his hand out as he looked at Yami.

"I could kill him now, but that's not in the rules. The match is over." Gaara said. Yami just stared, surprised at how quickly things had changed in the fight.

"Okay... Gaara wins." she said, walking up to Gaara smiling. "Good job." Gaara didn't look at her, instead sneering at Nekoi.

"Be careful- it's dangerous. I guess you weren't ready." Gaara said, releasing Nekoi and letting him fall to the ground. Nekoi landed on his feet and ran at Gaara, murder in his eyes.

"Damn you!" Nekoi shouted, grabbing a kunai and aiming for Gaara's throat. He had never been so humiliated! Beaten in front of the only woman that had ever refused him when he had made so many proud declarations! He swung the knife down, intending to kill. He didn't even hear as Yami shouted at him, telling him that the match was over.

"Die!" he yelled, but suddenly his kunai was gone. A second later, he felt a searing pain on his face. He screamed, dropping to his knees.

"Ouch!" he shouted, bringing his hands up to his face. He could feel something thick, warm, wet, and metallic run down his face.

'Blood!' he realized. His face had been sliced open! The pain was lessening slightly, allowing him to look up at the man that had just beaten him.  
Gaara still held the bloody kunai, then he dropped it at Nekoi's knees and put the stopper back in his gourd.

"You're pathetic." he said, walking right past him to go back to the main part of the village. Yami followed him, ignoring Nekoi.

"Yami, take me to the hospital. If I don't get this treated soon I could scar. I don't have enough chakra left to perform the speed jutsu, but you'll help me, right?" Nekoi watched her leave, then turned a hateful gaze to Gaara's back.

"I won't forget this! I do not forget and will not forgive! I will ruin you, do you hear me? I will get my revenge on you, just you wait! Do you hear me, Gaara?" Nekoi shouted, getting up from his kneeling position in the sand. "Do you hear me"  
Gaara looked over his shoulder, indicating that he had heard, but then turned back around with nothing else said. His message was clear: 'You're not worth my time.'

"Damnit!" Nekoi shouted, falling to his knees again and slamming his hands down on the ground. "Damnit! Damnit! DAMNIT! I will get my revenge on him! Just you wait." Nekoi looked up, Gaara and Yami fading into the distence. "I'll find out something about him and I'll have my revenge! He'll be humiliated like I was, hurt like I was, and then I will have the satidfaction of killing him!" Nekoi's eyes burned with plans for his revenge, but he would never suspect the material he'd find out for his revenge when the time came.

TBC...

A/N: Boy, that was a long one! I never expected that out of Nekoi- an overconfident womanizer, famous for his speed? I figured he'd be a one time kinda guy, but I'll be bringing him back later in the fic. Seriously, I had no plans for him when I first started writing this. I figured he'd be just a kinda strong guy with an interest in Yami, maybe give Gaara a bit of a fight, but I didn't expect him to be so angry or make him seem like that. Extreme, ain't he?

Hmmm- does anyone else smell forshadowing here? The whole revenge bit will be a few more chapters yet- a lot has to happen before I can bring that bit in. I'm figuring the whole story will be pretty long, then I have plans for 4 more fics in a series after this. Not all as long! Parts 2 and 3 are pretty short, then part 4 will be a bit longer than this, but part 5 will be short again. I already have outlines for the stories, but I may end up not writing them depending on if you guys like this story or not.

Oh, and if any of you guys think that Gaara is too OOC, well, I'm basing Gaara off the more recent chapters of Naruto- like 260 and up. Not the early bits where he's all crazy and stuff, even though I love him for it. He's my fav character, so I had to give him some spotlight!  
Hugs! 


	4. Chapter 4

Thank you for all the lovely reviews! Lov ya all! 

Naruto yawned and stretched, glancing at the clock.

'Six in the morning. How do they wake up this early?' Naruto thought, standing up. He had managed to find an apartment after he had left the Hokage- Sasuke. He had lucked out and found a nice small apartment that he could get for free, being a 'ninja'. The landlady had said that it was her way of thanking him for protecting them all from the demons, and also because he reminded her of her son.

Her son had been brutally killed by demons in the war as she had watched, hidden in her room.  
Naruto felt a small pang of guilt, but quickly squelched it. He had always felt too much for a demon, or so Gaara had always told him. He had always been 'too kind' and Gaara had warned him that that could very well be his downfall one day. Naruto hadn't listened.

'I never wanted to lead this war in the first place.' Naruto thought grumpily. Sure, he had been angry when the humans ruined their sacred grounds, but he was more in favor of talking it out with the humans. Of course, the majority of demons were for attacking, whether or not they cared about the holy grounds. Most just wanted blood and death, living only for the war and their next battle.

Naruto glanced at the clock.

'Six thirty- I've been thinking that long?' he thought, surprised. He did a double-take.

'Six thirty! Shit, I gotta get going!' He raced to his dresser, pulling out an outfit and not really caring what it was, then quickly jumping into the small bathroom attached to his apartment. He stripped, then leapt into the shower and turning on the water, nearly cursing aloud at the cold tempeture. He quickly washed up, wanting to get out of the freezing spray as soon as possible.

As soon as he deemed himself clean, he stepped out, turned off the water, and quickly grabbed a towel. He dried himself off, rubbing his hair a bit extra so it wouldn't be as wet when he went outside. Then he turned to his clothes and paused.

'These must have been her sons. Was this where he lived?' Naruto thought, getting his underwear on and then carefully picking up the first article of clothing. It was a sleek black top, obviously designed for a ninja who needed ease of movement. He slid it on, noticing that it fit almost perfectly. It was just a bit too big, but he liked his clothes that way. Next he picked up the pants- a slightly darker tan color, baggy at the bottom but tighter up top so they stayed on. Naruto slid the pants on. A perfect fit, going down to mid calf. He gave himself a once over in the mirror.

'Not half bad.' he thought, smiling. He exited the bathroom and grabbed a vest hanging up in the closet. He had seen most nins wear one, and it'd be pretty suspicious if he didn't have one, especially since he had said that he was a high-level ninja. He slid it on, completing his outfit. He was just about to go out the door when he remembered shoes. He almost cursed, but quickly ran to the closet and dug around for a pair of shoes. Since he had no socks, he decided to search for sandals. He glanced at the clock overh his shoulder.

'Six fifty? Damnit, did he own any sandals!' Naruto thought, frantically digging through pile after pile of protective shoes- almost like sneakers. Finally, he came across a pair and slid them on, running out the door and letting it slam behind him. He ran as fast as he could, directing chakra to his feet to get to the meeting place quickly.

He slammed his feet to a stop at the front gate.

'Made it.' he thought, glancing around for his partner. He was pretty sure the Hokage had called him Kakashi. He didn't see a sign of silver hair.

'What?' Naruto thought, looking up into the sky. He was very good at telling time by the sun, and from the looks of it, it was past the prearranged meeting time.

He heard footsteps approach and turned around quickly, hand going automatically to his weapons pouch. To his relief and surprise, he saw the pink-haired girl that he had seen yesterday- Sakura- and a boy with a really bad haircut, bushy eyebrows, and dressed in a green bodysuit.  
"Are you here for the next watch?" Sakura asked, smiling slightly but looking dog-tired and slightly depressed. Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, the Hokage assigned me to the morning watch with Kakashi- have you seen him? He's late." Naruto grumped. "It's way too early to be awake."

"You're new, so you don't know- Kakashi is famous for being late. Only Iruka can make him be anywhere on time." Sakura said, yawning. Naruto looked confused.

"Who's Iruka?" he asked.

"He's a teacher at the ninja acedemy, but there's also a rumor going around that he's Kakashi's boyfriend." Sakura said.

"Boyfriend?" Naruto said dumbly. Sakura nodded.

"It's just a rumor though. I think it's great to be able to have someone you love with you during the war." Sakura said softly, eyes taking on a sad shine as she glanced down slightly. Naruto nodded.

"Yeah- you told me your folks died... I never really knew my parents." Naruto said. Sakura looked at him, shock and sorrow showing in her eyes.

"You're an orphan? That's so sad... I'm glad I got to know my parents, even if... they're gone now." Sakura burst into tears again and the boy with the bad haircut came up behind her and hugged her. Sakura turned into his embrace, crying softly.

"It's okay Sakura. You'll be alright. I'm here for you, okay?" he said. Sakura nodded.

"I just miss them so much..." she said. Naruto turned away, feeling as though he was spying on something private. Demons would never show so much sadness around others- he almost envied the humans ability to. A movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he turned to face the new arrival.

"Yo." Kakashi said calmly, walking up and reading a book. Judging by the cover, Naruto didn't want to know the contents.

"You're late!" he shouted, pointing angrily at Kakashi. "I've been here for a half hour!" Kakashi just nodded, smiling from what Naruto could tell, though it was hard to see with the mask.

"Well, and old woman needed help with her fruit cart-"

"Liar." Naruto said, sniffing the air instinctively. "You haven't been around fruit or old people at all." Kakashi's face turned from a happy smile to a forced, dangerous smile.

"And how'd you know?" he asked, sounding so overly happy it had to be fake. Naruto racked his brain for an answer.

"Well, there isn't a whole lot of fruit because the demons destroyed the orchards, and if you helped an older woman you would have had to be there and help longer than a half hour. You probably would still be there." Naruto said, praying to anyone that would listen that Kakashi accepted the excuse.

Kakashi's face relaxed.

"Well, for a second I thought you were able to tell by smell alone." Kakashi said, making a mental note to tell Sasuke later. Naruto laughed kinda nervously.

"Yeah- maybe we should start the watch?" he said. Kakashi nodded, looking past Naruto to Sakura- who had cried herself to sleep- and the bushy-eyebrowed boy who held Sakura close.

"Lee, you can take her home now. Make sure she gets plenty of rest- she's trying to be strong but she needs to be taken care of." The boy- Lee- nodded, doing a sort of half-salute towards Kakashi before carefully grabbing Sakura so she wouldn't fall and darting off.

Kakashi began walking, reading his book still.

"Come on Naruto! We should get started!" Kakashi said. Naruto grumbled and followed after him.

"Who was that?" he asked when he caught up.

"Hmm? Lee? He's Sakura's finacee- they've known each other for ages. Of course, they won't be able to get married until this whole thing is over and Sakura has managed to grieve for her parents properly. Poor girl- we didn't even have time to bury her parents bodies right, just put them in a mass grave." Kakashi said, seemingly unconcerned with how Naruto reacted but paying close attention. Naruto looked regretful, sad, and almost angry with... himself?

'I must be reading it wrong.' Kakashi thought, but filed the information away.

"Why can't they get married until the war's over?" Naruto asked.

"Well, traditionally weddins are happy occassions and a big celebration with lots of sake and music and food, but to have one now would be suicide. Unless the bride had her weapons strapped to her leg and wore her ninja uniform, and the groom was prepared to fight to the death on his wedding day. Forget the sake and the lavish party- we'd be lucky to have anyone attend or get a preist willing to be there to make it official. Sakura doesn't want that for her wedding. Of course, they might also be dead by the time it's safe." Kakashi said, almost sad. "People are dying every day because of those damn demons. No one even knows why they attacked."

"Yeah... no one knows why..." Naruto said, feeling the information sink slowly in. He hadn't really realized that the humans hadn't known why the demons attacked. He hadn't really thought about what it seemed like for the humans.

They continued the rest of the watch in silence.

That night, Naruto crept out of his apartment, checking to make sure he wasn't being followed. He cursed when he felt a familiar chakra signiture. He began running, deciding to lose Kakashi in the confusion.

He poured chakra into his feet, running and running. He felt Kakashi keep up with him for a while, but then he started to fall behind as the nins chakra gave out. Eventually, Naruto pulled ahead and far away from him.

'Damn nosey humans.' Naruto thought, getting close to the demons headquarters- about twenty miles from Konoha, in a cave that Kyuubi had discovered years ago.

When he was close enough, he turned back into his demon form. Kyuubi walked into the cave, noticing how the demons bowed respectfully towards him. They all knew who he was, and all knew of his power.

"Kyuubi-sama, everyone is here, except for-" a demon said, walking up towards Kyuubi and was cut off by a new arrival.

"Everyone except me- was that it?" Shukaku asked, striding in purposefully.

"Shukaku-sama." the demon bowed and then joined the other demons in a semicircle on the far walls of the cave. Kyuubi studied his troops- hundreds upon hundreds of handpicked demons, only the best and strongest. Every other night, they met to discuss the progress of the war and to assign new orders.

"Our meeting tonight is to discuss the new infiltrators of Konoha and Sand." Kyuubi said. Shukaku, standing behind Kyuubi, nodded.

"Kyuubi and I have infiltrated the ranks of the humans. It will only be a short time now until they are at last defeated." Shukaku said. "We'll run them out of our lands."

"Yeah!" a demon piped in, cheering because the war was almost over- the humans would die soon! His voice was joined by several others, all cheering.

Kyuubi felt a strange twang of guilt for his plans- dark eyes stared at him from the back of his mind, calculating and cautious.

'This has nothing to do with him.' Kyuubi thoguht, angrily pushing the face of the Hokage out of his mind.

"But-" he heard himself say. "-leave the Hokage for me. I will finish him myself, as a final show to the humans of our power!" A loud cry went up at Kyuubi's words- cheering and congratulating him.

Shukaku studied his longtime friend. Something was off about the way Kyuubi had said that- as though he was trying to prove something to himself.

'I'll find out what happened. Perhaps... perhaps the reason he's acting like he is is because he too may have found something- or someone- in the Konoha village.'

TBC...

A/N: Gah... sorry that this was boring- it'll get better soon, I swear! Sorry if anyone seemed OOC- I'm not used to writing Kakashi or Lee, so they probably seemed weird.  
Feed my muse! She lives for reviews! See you next week!


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you, thank you, all my lovely reviewers! You keep this story strong!

Gaara walked slowly around the Hidden Village of Sand. It had been a week since the meeting in which Naruto had declared that he'd kill the Hokage himself- telling the other demons that the Hokage was off limits.

Gaara suspected it was much more than that, but he wouldn't say anything. Neither he nor Kyuubi had been caught yet, and from what Naruto was telling him he was moving up the ranks in Konoha, and had been assigned to the Hokage's team. Apparently the Hokage went into battle with his people, not just stayed on the sidelines. Admirable, for a human. Gaara was surprised that Naruto had been moved up so quickly to such a high post, but Naruto had told him that he was pretty sure the Hokage suspected him and was keeping an eye on him since Naruto had managed to lose every single one of the Hokage's spies at night.

Gaara himself had been moved up to patrolling the village during the day and occassionally going beyond the gate to look for any demons that could be planning to attack. Gaara had almost laughed when he had recieved those orders.

'I could tell them exactly what the demons are planning on doing, and exactly where they are, but that would do us no good.' Gaara thought.

"Are you even paying attention?" An annoyed voice broke into his thoughts. Gaara glanced at his partner- Yami had been assigned to patrol with him.

"I am. There's nothing dangerous going on here." Gaara said calmly. Yami nodded.

"It has been kinda quiet- no demon attacks for three days." Yami said softly, as if afraid she'd jinx it.

"We're still burying the dead from that attack." Gaara reminded her. Yami nodded.

"That was the least protected part in the whole village- we didn't know that they'd go after the elderly. Now they're gone." Yami said.

"Konoha's getting it worse." Gaara said. "I heard that demons attacked them last night and swept halfway through the village." He had been the head of that little band, but he didn't tell her that. For some strange reason, he was becoming more and more reluctant to pass information onto Kyuubi about the defenses of Sand. He refused to realize that he was becoming more hesitant because of the woman patrolling with him- he refused to believe his newfound sympathy for humans had anything to do with her. Yami nodded.

"They're just picking through the rubble today. The Hokage was almost killed, I think. The messenger sent here early this morning said that Uchiha-san was about to be killed when a member of his team showed up and knocked him out of the way. The other person nearly got himself killed!" Yami said. Gaara hadn't been in that part of Konoha, so he hadn't seen, but he had a gut feeling that he knew who the person was.

"Do we know who saved him?" Gaara asked. Yami shook her head.

"No- the messenger didn't know his name- all we know is that he's in the hospital, recovering."

Naruto stared at the ceiling of his hospital room, wondering what on earth had possessed him to save Sasuke's life.

'I ordered that attack- hell, I told them to attack me as well, just not enough to kill me. Why the hell did I go and nearly get myself killed to save that bastard?' Naruto scowled. He had been assigned to Sasuke's ANBU team just days ago, and had come to learn quite a bit about the Hokage. One- Sasuke was a bastard. Two- Sasuke was a bastard who apparently cared about what happened to his men and would fight with them. And three- Sasuke was a bastard who had a connection to Naruto. Naruto felt connected to Sasuke deep in his soul, almost like...

'No, I am not going there. We're rivals, enemies- predator and prey. He's just a human- a very strong one- but he's just a human, with dakr eyes that can pull you in, a toned body, silky hair... goddamnit!' Naruto hadn't been able to keep his thoughts on track lately, and he'd been assigning fewer and fewer attacks. Instead of a few a week, he told his men only to attack once, and he'd been more and more reluctant to issue the orders.

'Why can't I stop thinking about him?' Naruto asked himself crossly, as Sasuke's face rose up in his mind as he racked his brain for the reason he didn't like to attack anymore.

The door to his room opened, and a silent figure entered, sitting next to the bed in the chair provided for visitors.

"I want to thank you for what you did out there last night." Sasuke said. "You saved my life when most of the others froze."

"Like I had a choice, bastard. I'm supposed to protect you- isn't that my assigned mission?" Naruto said, folding his hands behind his head.

"Dobe." Sasuke said, in response to the nickname Naruto had adopted for him. Naruto gritted his teeth. He had no clue why- of all things that Sasuke could have picked- he had picked that name. It grated on his nerves every single time...!

"Why are you here?" Naruto asked.

"We're having another meeting to discuss strategy- I came to see if you were well wnough to attend. We need everyone's input- our numbers are dwindling rapidly, and if we don't make a comeback now we'll never have enough nins to defend ourselves." Sasuke said.

"Of course I'm well enough! See?" Naruto asked, sitting up and ripping off the bandages that the nurse had so painstakingly put on his mangled chest. Sasuke looked like he was about to stop him, but instead just stared.

Naruto's chest showed no sign of the wound he had recieved the night before- it looked like it had been healing for months instead of just hours.

"Did they use a healing jutsu on you?" Sasuke asked. "The wound wouldn't have killed you if they bandaged it properly- and even if they needed to use some chakra on healing you, they know to save their chakra for those that can't be saved without a healing jutsu. They wouldn't have healed it so much." Sasuke looked into Naruto's eyes, as if looking in his soul to find the answer. "How did this heal so quickly? What are you?" Naruto laughed nervously.

'Humans don't heal that fast? Damnit, I slipped up!'

"It looks a lot better than it is! Ouch!" Naruto yelled, laying back down and covering his chest. "I think it's reopening- maybe I should stay here." he said, rolling so his back faced Sasuke.

"Fine then." Sasuke said, standing up. His voice was like ice- he was furious and obviously didn't believe Naruto, but he had too few soldiers to kill one that might be a demon- one that he had no evidence against. "Rest well- I'll inform you of the strategy in the morning." The door closed loudly behind Sasuke, not quite slamming. Naruto winced.

'That wasn't good- way too close.' Naruto thought, sitting up and calling for the nurse. To his surprise, Sakura entered the room.

"Sakura?" he asked, shocked. He had gotten to know her a bit better in the past week, and had met most of her friends in Konoha.

Sakura nodded.

"I'm in training under Tsuande- she's the lead healer here- to become a medic. The nurse who helped you last night isn't here, so- Naruto, why don't you have any bandages?" Sakura asked, as if just noticing.

"Well... uh... it wasn't as bad as it looked." Naruto said helpfully. "But it should still be bandaged until it heals the rest of the way, right?" Sakura shook her head.

"You'll just have to be careful- we have a shortage of bandages and we have to use them sparingly, only on the most serious wounds. But hopefully this'll be over soon." Sakura said, smiling. She turned and exited out the door, closing it lightly behind her. Naruto sighed and lay down.

'I'll take a nap then.' he thought. He closed his eyes. Not long after that, he fell deeply asleep and didn't wake up until that night.

Gaara slipped out of the Hidden Village of Sand and quickly made his way to Konoha- more specifically, the hospital. He carefully scanned the gates and then the streets for guards, not wanting to run into any trouble. He carefully avoided the tired nins and slipped in the hospital by way of the front door.

The nurse on duty was asleep at the desk, looking worn out. Gaara silently crept past her and up the stairs, glancing in each room as he passed.

When he didn't see Naruto there, he went to the second floor. Three rooms in, he hit the jackpot.

"Naruto." he said, opening the door and walking into the room. Naruto was sitting up and looked over at him, wide awake.

"Oh, hey Gaara." he said.

"So it was you." Gaara replied instead of greeting him. Naruto quickly pasted a smile on his face.

"What do you mean 'it was me'? What did I do"  
"Nearly got yourself killed by one of your own men to save the life of an enemy." Gaara said, slinging his gourd off his back and leaning against the wall. "I thought it would be."

"I can explain!" Naruto said instantly, turning to completely face Gaara. "I was just-"

"Protecting someone you feel a connection with?" Gaara finished for him. He had a hunch that he was right. Naruto looked flabbergasted.

"No, I was... well... he's my rival, that's all. That's it. I don't feel any kind of connection with him at all. None whatsoever." Naruto said, crossing his arms. Gaara smiled.

'I was right.' he thought smugly.

"Convince yourself before you try to convince anyone else." Gaara said. "What will you do?"

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked stubbornly. "I'll finish out this war and take his head while I'm at it."

"You don't mean it. I think you've found him." Gaara said.

"No- I do NOT want that stubborn prick for a mate, okay? I don't like him!" Naruto insisted.

"Who said anything about a mate?" Gaara asked smoothly. Naruto had fallen right into his verbal trap. "I could have meant anything by 'You've found him.'" Naruto looked shocked, then stubborn as he went back over the conversation in his mind.

"So? What, are you going to tell the others on me?" Naruto asked, looking away. Gaara chuckled lightly and shook his head.

"I'm in no position to judge." Gaara said, thinking of Yami. Naruto caught his faraway look and smirked evily.

'Revenge time.' he thought.

"Oh, so you want one of the humans too?" Naruto said. Gaara looked Naruto square in the eye and nodded. Naruto was taken aback- demons did not just ADMIT that they wanted a human!

"At least I'll admit it." Gaara said. "What will you do? Are you going to let the Hokage be killed on your orders, or will you end this before it goes too far? The humans are dying by the hundreds- it's only a matter of time before we wipe them out. All of them." Naruto looked away, thinking hard. They paused for a moment in the silence, then Gaara got off the wall, grabbing his gourd tightly.

"The next meeting is tomorrow. You have until tomorrow night to figure out how this will end." Gaara said, leaving his friend alone with his thoughts.

TBC...

A/N: Gahh! This is going a bit fast... sorry if I'm confusing anyone! I'm trying to keep it interesting... And I know it seems like this'll be over soon, but there will be many more chapters- the main conflict of this story hasn't even been revealed yet! We'll find that out later... 


	6. Chapter 6

Kyuubi paced in the meeting cave. He had spent all day in his apartment, thinking things over. He had avoided Sasuke and anyone else he knew so he wouldn't get distracted.

After all that, he had come to a decision.

He knew that he couldn't please the demons and stop the war.

He knew he couldn't keep the war going and save Sasuke.

He knew that his choice had been made for him- he had chosen what was more important to him and had chosen the only path possible.

He looked up, sniffing the air. The demons were all arriving for the meeting, figuring it would be business as usual.

'Won't they be surprised.' Kyuubi thought, thinking of his new orders for the demons. To his surprise, Shukaku was among the first to arrive.

Shukaku made a beeline for him as soon as he spotted him.

"Have you chosen?" he asked. Kyuubi nodded.

"They'll be getting a surprise tonight." he said. Shukaku nodded, stepping back behind Kyuubi as the rest of the demons filed in. Once they were all present, Kyuubi stomped on the ground to get their attention.

"I have new orders for you- for all of you. Many of you will probably not like this, but remember that you accepted me as your leader when this war began." Kyuubi said loudly, then took a deep breath.

"We will be having peace talks and peace agreements with Konoha and Sand, and we will follow the arrangement agreed upon in those talks. This war ends with our forfeit." Kyuubi said. Shocked silence followed his announcement, but slowly he heard murmurs ripples through the crowd- the demons were talking, trying to decide if they accepted this or not. Uncertain, Kyuubi looked behind himself to see Shukaku, trying to figure out if he had made the right choice. Shukaku nodded, reassuring him.

"We'll do as you say, Kyuubi-sama." a demon said from a crowd. Shouts of agreement followed. Kyuubi would have grinned if his facial muscles allowed, but he just nodded.

"Thank you." he said, then turned and left the cave, eager to rest. Shukaku followed behind, but something was bothering him.

'Why did they all agree so quickly?' he wondered, then filed the thought away for later consideration and went back to the Sand.

Inside the cave, the demons began talking again.

"Kyuubi is ending the war?" one demon began. Another nodded.

"Impossible! The war can't be over! Who will we fight? Animals aren't any fun to kill..."

"We must start this war up again, at the peace talks. We can wipe out the humans completely in one fell swoop."

"That's a good idea. Kyuubi will probably tell us when he plans on talking with the humans- then is when we strike."

Kyuubi- still in his demon form- walked slowly up to the gates of Konoha. He knew that the ninja on duty would most likely kill him and then ask questions later, but this was the quickest way to put his plan of action into action.

'This had better work.' Kyuubi thought to himself, sniffing the air lightly. There was one nin close by- they must have already spotted him, because he could smell the other one running for reinforcements. Slowly, Kyuubi looked around until he spotted the nin on watch, sniffing the air again.

'Damn he's terrified.' Kyuubi realized, smelling the light tang of sweat- and fear. The boy was so petrified he couldn't move. Even more so when Kyuubi made eye contact. The boy attempted to back away from Kyuubi, falling on his rear end and still backing away fearfully.

"Don't worry, kid- I'm not here for a fight." Kyuubi said. "Where's your leader- the Hokage?" he asked, growling slightly.

"I'm not going to tell you!" the boy said, sticking out his tongue childishly, but his hands were shaking. "The Hokage is supposed to be protected by all the vilage nin, and since I'm a genin now it's my duty to protect him." Kyuubi almost laughed.

'A genin is the lowest rank- and he was left out here? And he thinks that he can protect Sasuke from me?'

"Kid, if I wanted to I could rip your Hokage to shreds in battle, but I am not here to fight." Of course, he wasn't completely sure that he could kill Sasuke before Sasuke killed him if it came down to it- and not only because of emotional attachments. Sasuke was strong, no doubt about that.

"Back away from the kid." A proud voice that Naruto knew very well said loudly. Kyuubi turned to face Sasuke, not at all surprised to see Kakashi and a few other Jonin he knew behind Sasuke to back him up.

"And if I don't?" Kyuubi said, not being able to resist. He had no intention to harm the kid in any way, but they didn't need to know that. Sasuke's face hardened, glaring coldly at the nine-tailed fox in front of him.

"Then be prepared for one hell of a battle." Kyuubi laughed out loud at this.

"I don't want to hurt him. I came to request a formal audience with you, Hokage-sama." Kyuubi said, emphasizing the -sama honorific so it came out mockingly.

"Why? What would a demon want with a formal audience with me?" Sasuke asked.

"Peace." Kyuubi answered simply. "The demon leader has decided to end the war with you. I assume you'll be accepting?" Kyuubi asked, omitting the fact that he was the demons leader and the most powerful of the demons. He could practically taste the shock as what he said hit the humans in front of him.

"Peace? Since when do demons ask for peace talks? How do we know you're not tricking us?" Kakashi asked.

"Only the demon leader will be there, with maybe a few other demons. We'll meet here in Konoha, and you can invite the whole village, nins and weapons and all. That good enough?" Kyuubi asked, knowing that they would accept.

Sasuke nodded. "Good enough. We'll see this demon leader of yours here at sunset tomorrow. Agreed?" Kyuubi nodded.

"Agreed." Kyuubi turned suddenly towards the small boy attempting to get around him. The boy squeaked, trying to scramble away, but Kyuubi picked him gently up in his jaws and set him down by Sasuke.

"You might want to take him home before he wets himself." Kyuubi said dryly, laughing and he leapt away. Sasuke watched him go.

'Peace talks? Since when do demons want peace?' he asked himself again.

"This is strange. We were losing- a few more weeks like this and they would have had us. Why do they want to talk peace with us now?" Kakashi said aloud, deciding that he may as well voice the questions on everyone's mind.

"I don't know." Sasuke said, then picked up the boy that had been on watch. He had passed out, supposedly from fright, but there was no lasting damage. "I just don't know."

Sasuke wearily dragged himself home that night, in desperate need of a shower and some food before he went to sleep. And he had to do one other thing, not because it was necessary, but because he was slightly concerned.

He went to his bathroom to take his shower and removed his shirt. He turned his back to the large mirror and glanced over his shoulder.

A mark had been growing- he didn't know how else to describe it- on his back for almost a week. He had noticed it days ago and had been to see Tsuande, but as far as she could tell it wasn't a disease and it wasn't harmful in the slightest. It didn't seem to be a curse or a jutsu placed on him of any sort- it was just there, like a freckle but much, much bigger. The mark had been very very light at first, but had darkened slightly and spread, forming a picture on his back. Sasuke checked it every night before he went to sleep, on those nights he allowed himself the luxury of proper rest.

It was still there, though he could make out the picture more clearly than he had been able to two days ago. It seemed like some sort of animal- Sasuke would have to guess a fox- but it had nine-tails. He had no clue what it meant and couldn't find anyone else that knew anything about it.

He shrugged and dismissed it as nothing important. Tsuande had said it wasn't harming him in any way, shape, or form, and she was the most knowledgeable about that kind of thing.  
Sasuke shrugged it off as nothing important, getting undressed the rest of the way and taking a quick shower before eating some leftovers he had in the fridge and collapsing into his bed.

The next day, Sasuke called his team as well as the most able and strong nins in Konoha to his office.

"The demon leader has requested an audience with me to discuss a possible peace agreement." A few of the nins raised a disapproving cry at this.

"They've killed our families!"

"-we're dying because of them-"

"-he'll kill us all. To invite a demon here-!" Sasuke cut them off by raising his hand. One by one, they all fell silent.

"We have little choice. We're dying right now, and if we don't end the war now, we'll all be dead. I have already agreed to peace talks- they begin at sunset in Konoha. I'll need you all ready for possible combat then. The leader will come unaccompanied into the gates, even if he does bring an escort with him- I'll see to that. Make sure you're in top shape for tonight, just in case." Sasuke carefully looked over each and every man there, eyes lingering on Naruto for perhaps a second longer than need be.

"I require you all to be there." he said. "Dismissed."

The nins slowly filed out, strangely subdued and quiet. Many were unhappy with it, but all realized that this could be their last chance to save themselves.

Naruto cursed silently. He hadn't expected Sasuke to require that he- as a human, as Naruto- was at the meeting. He hadn't planned on this. He quickly filed out with the other nins, darting off to the Sand as soon as he was able to without giving too much away.

Gaara stood at the gates, bored already. He knew that no demons would be coming- Naruto had ordered for peace talks, and he had been sent a message via one of the lower demons in the army from Naruto that the peace talks were to take place that night at sunset. He had been assigned gate duty with his partner all day, and had to carry out his mission even though he knew it was useless.

'Not that I really mind the fact that she's here with me.' Gaara thought, glancing sideways at Yami. There was no doubt in his mind now- she was the most important person to him.

His mind had accepted it, and his body had been informing him of his attraction to her ever since day one in small ways- an urge to smile when she did, a slight tingle when they accidently touched, little things like that. He didn't need to see the mark on her back he knew existed.

For demons, there existed no marriage- the closest thing they had to that was mating, a ritual in which two beings joined their souls. Many demons chose not to mate because they didn't want to be tied to just one other person. When a demon was serious about someone, a mark would appear on their chosen one's back- the mark of the demon. It varied, but the mark appeared on the demon's chosen as soon as the demon accepted their attraction. The mark was very faint at first- it was called a preliminary mark. Gaara knew that Yami's mark would be very faint at this point- just taking the shape of his demon form, a picture on her back in a very light shade so that it was just noticeable.

The mark only darkened when the mate had been 'claimed', and then only if both parties were willing. The ritual itself left both very weak and was dangerous to perform if done improperly, but if completed sucessfully the two would be bound together so tightly that nothing could break them apart. The death of one often caused the insanity of the other and then the mourning mate was often pulled to the grave early.

Of course, nothing happened to someone if they just bore a preliminary mark, like Yami did. She could simply be with someone of her own choosing to be rid of the mark. Humans weren't even aware of the mark's meaning to demons- they had no clue how serious an offense it was to sleep with another demons mate. At the preliminary stage it was still a free-for-all, but as soon as a mate was claimed they were off limits.

'Unlike human marriage.' Gaara reflected, disgusted with the way humans had intimate relations with those that weren't their spouse. It was looked down upon in human culture of found out, but such an offense was punishable by death or exile for demons if one mate was with a person other than their mate.

Suddenly, Yami was over by the front of the gate, staring at something in the distence. Gaara walked over and followed her gaze.

"What is it?" he asked, concentrating. He felt slightly shocked, then puzzled when he realized who it was.

'What is he doing here?' he wondered, watching as Naruto came to a stop in front of him, breathing heavy.

"Who are you?" Yami asked, but Gaara stopped her before she could ask any more questions.

"He's a friend." he told her, glancing over his shoulder, then looking back at Naruto. "Why are you here?"

"Can I speak to you privately?" Naruto asked, getting his breath back. Gaara nodded.

"Stay here." he told Yami, walking away and motioning for Naruto to follow him. "I'll be right back." Yami nodded.

Once they had gotten far enough away that they couldn't be overheard, Gaara turned to face Naruto.

"What did you come here for?" he asked.

A/N: GAH! Sorry to be rushing, but I didn't figure anyone wanted to read about all the boring missions, demon fights, etc. that everyone went through- they don't exactly matter and aren't important to the storyline. Unless someone asks me to write a short bit on a few of the battles...? I can summarize them for you:

Humans ambush or demons ambush.

Fight.

Humans and demons die.

Humans retreat and demons withdraw.

Dead humans are buried in mass grave once it's safe for humans to come back out.

Unless you felt like reading 10 chapters of that...

Anyways, it gets more descriptive later. Sorry I couldn't do much with Yami, but she'll come in more later. I thought it would be kind of unnatural to have the chapters bring up her POV as she's just an OC and I only brought in Sasuke's POV once or twice.

Any requests on what I should include? I have a basic plan, but that could change...

See ya next week! 


	7. Chapter 7

"Well, I kinda need your help." Naruto said, smiling sheepishly. "Sasuke wants his whole team present at the peace talks, and I can't skip, so..."

"You want me to pose as the demons leader." Gaara finished for him, nodding. "Sunset tonight, correct?" Naruto nodded, smiling gratefully.

"Thanks- and come alone, no guards or anything, okay?" Gaara nodded again.

"Why don't you just tell him that you are the leader- that you're a demon?" Gaara asked. Naruto shook his head violently.

"I can't do that! He'd hate me for sure..." Gaara stared at him calmly.

"You have to tell him sometime." Gaara said. Naruto nodded, looking at the ground.

"I will, okay? In my own time, I swear I will." Naruto said.

Gaara glanced back in the direction of the gate.

"Yami's probably waiting for me." he muttered out loud. Naruto smiled.

"So that's her? The one you mentioned when we talked at the hospital?" Naruto said, recalling when Gaara had first revealed that he knew about Naruto's desire to have Sasuke for a mate. Gaara nodded slowly, still staring off into the distence.

"She doesn't know yet, though, does she?" Naruto asked, sounding slightly smug.

"No, she doesn't. I'll tell her when I'm ready." Gaara said. He looked back at his friend.

"Sunset, right?" Naruto nodded

"Thank you, Gaara."

Yami watched the two men talk, unable to hear anything that was said.

She was extremely curious about the man that had arrived minutes earlier, but truth be told her eyes lingered more on her partner than on the man he was speaking to.

She had harbored a secret attraction to Gaara for a while now- not since she had first seen him, but she had gotten to know him a bit better while they had been patrolling and had liked what she had heard.

To her surprise, Gaara suddenly glanced back over at her. She quickly averted her eyes and went back to watching the road and the surrounding desert for anyone approaching.

She had no clue what it was about Gaara that made him so... likeable. She had heard many women in the village say that he was kind of creepy- he never seemed to get badly hurt in any of the battles, and he rarely had a scratch on him. Some said that he was in league with the demons. Of course, she also knew that many of the village men were jealous because Gaara kept stealing their spouses attention.

Suddenly, Gaara was standing beside her again. She blinked, surprised, but quickly collected herself.

"Who was he? What did he want?" she asked. Gaara just looked at her seriously, still half-debating on whether or not to tell her more information.

"He's a friend of mine. He really needs my help with something tonight, so I have to leave a little while before our shift ends. Don't mention him or his visit to anyone, understand?" Yami nodded, frowning slightly when she realized that he had dodged the questions.

"Does your friend have a name? What does he need help with?" she asked.

"He has a name." Gaara said, using the tone he used to end an arguement. Yami knew how to take a hint and quit asking questions. When Gaara took off a half hour before sunset, she didn't say a word.

'Good luck with whatever it is, Gaara.' Yami thought. Something told her that this 'thing' Gaara's friend needed help with would be dangerous.

Once Gaara was safely out of range of either of the villages, he turned back to his demon form and ran the rest of the way to Konoha. He arrived just as the sun set, painting the landscape beautifully. There were quite a few nin waiting for him at the gates, some with weapons drawn even!

A tall man with black hair and black eyes stood at the front of the crowd, looking determined but cautious- even protective, like he was determined to protect Konoha at all costs.

Gaara nearly smirked when he saw Naruto behind the dark-haired man. Naruto was trying to act like he was just as afraid of Gaara as everyone else- and he was failing miserably. Naruto lightly smiled at Gaara, thanking him silently for coming.

"The Hokage, I presume." Gaara said, shifting his gaze to the dark-haired male. He nodded.

"General of the demon army, correct?" Sasuke said icily. Gaara almost shot a look of disbelief at Naruto. This was the man that Naruto desired? He was almost Naruto's complete opposite, going by voice and appearence alone!

"Correct. Call me Shukaku." Gaara said. "Let's get this over with." He was anxious to be back at the Sand.

Sasuke nodded.

"Your side asked for peace talks- does this mean you forfeit?" Gaara glanced carefully at Naruto, who nodded just enough so that Gaara's demon eyes could catch it.

"Yes." Gaara said. Sasuke nodded.

"Name your demands, then. What do you want out of this?" Gaara glanced at Naruto again, who looked almost panicky. Apparently, he hadn't given any thought as to what he wanted after the demon's forfeit.

"It's usually the winners who name demands. What do you want from us?" Gaara said, amused. Naruto shot him a look of relief, which he pretended to ignore.

"Stop attacking humans, first of all. Help rebuilding our cities and towns if needed. We want this war over, and we want it over today." Sasuke said. Gaara began to nod, but a faint sound caught his attention. It sounded like someone was crashing through the nearby forest...

He turned his head, hearing the sound again.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked, turning to look as well. Gaara noticed most of the humans turning- Naruto among them. When Gaara realized what was going on, as the first screams sounded, he was shocked.

'So that's why they never complained.' he thought, dazed, as the bulk of the demon army ran into the open area in front of the gates. 'They never intended to go along with it.'

"Die!"

"Death to the humans!"

"Stupid humans, invading our land!" The battle cry rose, spreading through the ranks as the demons mercilessly began their attack, slashing down at any human close by. Gaara just stared for a second, but then reacted after seeing the Hokage shoot him a betrayed look and Naruto give him a panicked one, prepared to jump in.

"What are you doing!" Gaara roared, yelling above the scared screams of the wounded nin- none were dead from the short-lived attack. Everything seemed to stop with Gaara's shout.

"Traitor! It was your plan all along, wasn't it, Shukaku? You influenced Kyuubi to make this happen! Traitor, traitor!" they shrieked, advancing on Shukaku. The humans were temporarily forgotten- many scrambled and tried to find a safe place..

"Kyuubi told you to honor the peace talks, not attack in the middle." Gaara growled, glaring at his subordinates. "Leave, now. I'll deal with you as soon as we finali-" He never got a chance to finish. A demon swiped across his face, leaving deep gashes.

"Death to the humans!" the demon yelled, quickly turning to the other demons. "Kill them all!" The demons yelled happily, springing at several groups of battle-ready nin.

The demon that had spoken turned back to Gaara.

"Where is Kyuubi? We'll take him back from your pathetic, human-loving ways!" Gaara growled and leapt, ripping out the throat of the demon. Spitting the leftover flesh out, Gaara leapt into the fray, killing his ex-subordinates.

'Damn... did some of them attack Sand!'

This thought distracted him long enough for one of his subrdinates- one with strangely green claws- to rip into his chest. Gaara roared, seeing red. Half-mad, he tore through most of the demon army before racing towards the Sand.

'Damnit Yami- please be okay.'

Naruto watched in a strange trance. He had thought...

'Well, I was wrong.' he thought coldly. He should have suspected something when they had all agreed so quickly... but he had dismissed it.

"Look out!" Naruto blinked as something heavy collided with him, knocking him down as a demon sprang at where his head would have been.

The person that had leapt in to protect him, however, wasn't so lucky. He heard the person grunt in pain as the demon struck downwards.

"You okay!" Naruto asked quickly, sitting up and laying the person down. He recognized this one as one of Sakura's friends- Shikamaru, he thought. The shadow-user nodded.

"We have to stick together- watch your back." Shikamaru warned, then ran off to assist another man who was fighting off demons to protect some of the wounded- Shino, Naruto recalled.

Naruto drew a kunai from the pouch at his leg and killed the demon that was only now coming back to attack again. Now that the shock had worn off, he was livid. How dare they..?

How dare they!

He glanced around for Sasuke, wanting to get him out of the way before the shit hit the fan. He spied him in the middle of a group of demons. Swearing, he took off. He occassionally slashed at a demon or two on his way, but he knew he had to hurry.

He was feet from the group when a demon knocked Sasuke to the ground. Naruto sprinted and tackled the demon out of the way before the demon could follow-up with decapitating Sasuke.

The demon growled at him, then prepared to spring.

"This has to stop, and it has to stop now." Naruto said, standing in front of Sasuke protectively, not caring what the Uchiha heard.

"Who are you to tell us what to do-" a demon began, but Naruto cut him off.

"You know damn well my orders were for you to obey the peace talks! When you told me to lead, you knew I didn't want to but swore that you'd follow me. Since you began this battle, my term as general isn't over, and I command you to stop." Naruto said. The demons stared in shock, realization dawning.

"Kyuubi... sama?" they said. Naruto glared at them pointedly before glancing out over the battlefield. Demons were attacking everything- some were even trying to crush the very buildings of Konoha. He had precious seconds before he had to end this so no permenant damage was done.

"Sasuke." Naruto said quietly, not looking at the dark-haired Hokage on the ground behind him. "You wanted to know who 'Naruto' was, didn't you? You asked back at the hospital..." Naruto heard rather than saw Sasuke nod.

"You're about to find out." That said, Naruto relinquished his human form for that of his demon self- Kyuubi.

Kyuubi shut his eyes tight before leaping into the fray to stop the madness of his men.

'Even if he hates me for this... even if I am never again allowed near him...'

He opened his eyes.

'I will protect him.'

Sorry sorry sorry! I tried to get this one out on time, but the beginning of the battle scene was so confusing I had to rewrite it. I'm still not happy with it, but I decided you guys have waited patiently enough... It just didn't want to be written!

If it's not clear enough, please let me know so I can do a recap at the beginning of next chapter. See you next week! Thanks for all the reviews! 


	8. Chapter 8

Thanks for all the lovely reviews! Onto the story!  
By the way, this is a long chapter and most was written before I began Chapter 1, so Yami and Gaara may seem a bit different- and the writing style may be a bit different in a certain area of this chapter.

Naruto growled, then roared loudly, catching everyone's attention. The fight stopped instantly.

"Kyuubi-sama!"

"Kyuubi!"

"General!" Excited demons screamed in happiness upon seeing their leader, certain that he was there to help him even though he had ordered the peace talks in the first place. Kyuubi noticed the nins draw away, some watching him warily. He even noticed some of his 'friends' watching him with suspicious eyes, drawing weapons to fight him.

'I never should have come here. I would never have met them then...' he reflected, but quickly began speaking before the demons took it as an 'okay' signal and continued to fight.

"Men! You all know what my orders were! We were to talk of peace with the humans and we were to honor our agreement! I gave no order to attack. Stand down and I'll deal with you later!"

"Kyuubi-sama- we can win! Wipe out the Leaf and we can take Sand easily!"

"Let us fight!"

"We can kill them all, sir!"

Kyuubi closed his eyes in exasperation, roaring once more to gain quiet.

"Konoha, Sand, and the residents of those cities are now under my protection. Attack them and go against me! Leave now and I won't kill you. Go!" Unsurprisingly, not a single demon turned tail and left. They all stared, dumbfounded, at their superior.

"You don't mean it!"

"No true demon would take humans into his care!"

"Do you want to fight me to see how much of a true demon I am?" Kyuubi asked smoothly, in a tone he only adopts when he's angry. A few of the demons actually shrunk back at his glare, but one demon spoke out from among the throng.

"We can take him if we all attack at once!" Like a tidal wave, the entire group of demons rushed at Kyuubi. Growling, Kyuubi leapt forward to meet them head-on, ripping through flesh and bone with his teeth and leaving nasty gashes with his claws. Several demons dropped, clutching limbs that were no longer there. A few were missing heads- those bodies reached for nothing.

"Try me again?" Kyuubi asked, licking his muzzle to try to clean some blood off of it. A few of the weaker demons actually did leave, holding their lives more dearly than their pride. The more sensible ones circled around his back, hoping to catch him off guard.

They almost succeeded.

As they jumped, Kyuubi looked behind him and lashed out with his tail at the demons aiming to fall upon his back. The blows threw the attackers into the trees, but the move left Kyuubi's front open. The demons he had been facing rushed forwards, a smaller, quicker demon latching onto the front of Kyuubi's neck and digging his teeth in. Kyuubi gave a pained yelp before swiping the pest off with his claws. By that time, another demon had latched onto his side, digging his foot-long claws deep into the fox's flesh. Kyuubi growled in pain, twisting around and swiping at the new threat, lashing out with his tails and teeth at the same time to avoid the other demons. The demon hanging on him was soon split in two, allowing Kyuubi to focus his efforts on the others.

'Twenty down- not bad. That still leaves about half their number, though.' Kyuubi thought, warily surveying the survivors.

"This is your last chance." Kyuubi said softly. "You're good men- I'd hate to see what your mates and pups would be reduced to if you all died tonight. Leave, now." Kyuubi was fully prepared for an attack, but to his surprise, none came.

A demon in the front dropped down to one knee.

"Kyuubi-sama, we'll cease fire. We see now that we cannot measure up to your skill. We will leave." Slowly, the demons loped off to some unknown destination, silently communicating with their fellows.

They were driven back, but how long would Kyuubi's love of humans last? They would be back- as soon as Kyuubi was gone, they'd be back.

Kyuubi was exhausted. The stress of the peace talks coupled with the stress and uncertainty of Sasuke finding out about what he really was and the battle... he wanted to sleep for the next few weeks. That's all.

He heard soft, uncertain footsteps on the ground behind him. He turned, large eyes blinking at the figure that stood before him.

It was Sasuke, the one person in the village that knew who and what he was- the only person Naruto knew had seen.

Sasuke wore such a lost, open look- he was obviously confused, hurt... and possibly betrayed? Was that anger? Was it hate? Kyuubi hated not being able to read the look- he had no clue how the man would react.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked, almost hesitant. Naruto instantly recognized the emotion coating Sasuke's voice- and he hated it. Oh how he hated it.

Sasuke was afraid of him, and he felt betrayed. One of his best soldiers- one who had risen so quickly through the ranks, one who had been protecting him- had turned out to be the enemy after all. And not just an enemy grunt- the leader, the one who had been responsible for the entire war.

Coming from Sasuke, it hurt more than anything Naruto could remember. Sasuke was supposed to be strong and brave, not scared of him- him of all people!

Faintly, he heard gasps from the people who had come out from hiding when the demons left. Anyone who had heard Sasuke say his name was shocked.

"Sasuke." he acknowledged, bowing his head sadly. None of them had understood. He was an outcast here too- he was a demon, and none of the humans could understand. While his form was demon, he had a human heart. That had been his weakness as a demon, and his demon self was his weakness as a human. Where then, did he belong?

Jerking his head up quickly and ignoring the muffled screams of the humans, he leapt away from the battleground, running deep into the forest.

Once he felt he was far enough into the trees that he wouldn't be found, he turned back into his human self.

Naruto collapsed, bleeding, brusied, and emotionally broken. He curled into a ball next to a large tree, hiding his face in his arms.

Demons couldn't cry as they had no tear ducts or glands, but humans did and Kyuubi's heart- even though his body wasn't, most of the time- was human.

Naruto cried himself into the welcoming oblivian of sleep.

Sasuke stared at the spot where Naruto had been seconds before.

'Not Naruto- the demon general, Kyuubi. There never was a Naruto.' Sasuke thought bitterly. Why then, did he collapse to his knees as the shock wore off and the truth hit him?

"Sasuke?" he heard someone whisper. He looked towards the voice, shocked. He hadn't heard anyone approach...

"Why... did you say 'Naruto'?" Sakura asked, looking into his eyes, as though hoping he hadn't meant it like he had said it...

"That... thing wasn't Naruto. There never was a Naruto, only the demon masquerading as a human. Naruto never existed." Sasuke said hollowly. Sakura gasped, eyes going wide.

"Naruto... was a demon?"

"The leader of the demons himself." Sasuke said dully, hearing shocked murmurs run throughout the crowd. Some were more shell-shocked than others- some couldn't believe it.

"He was powerful yes, but a demon? I never... even thought..." Kakashi muttered to himself, unable to process the idea. He had grown to be almost fond of the blonde, seeing him as almost a surrogate son. His lover had ceratinly doted on the boy, acting almost like a parent when he had found out how much of a troublemaker Naruto was.

Naruto's small group of friends- people that had accepted him, like Sakura, Lee, Shikamaru and the others- had a difficult time adjusting to this new view of him.

'A demon? Naruto wasn't... human?' Lee thought. 'He was never cruel to me..'

'I never noticed.' Hinata thought. 'I always watched him, but I never knew...'

'How could this have gone unnoticed?' Neji wondered. 'Hinata could have been hurt by him, but-'

'He never seemed like a bad person.' Shino thought.

'He always shared his food-' Choji thought, recalling the times when he had been so hungry he could have eaten grass and Naruto had given him a bite to eat.

'He didn't tell us. Why? Why did he even come here in the first place?' Kiba asked himself, unconsciously petting Akamaru for comfort. The dog just whined at him, sensing his masters uncertainty.

'How could he not tell us? Did he not trust us?' Ino thought, angry for a moment before asking herself 'Why?'

'How did it slip by all of us?' Sakura thought, feeling numb with shock as Lee wrapped comforting arms around her.

Unnoticed by anyone save himself, a silent tear slipped down Sasuke's face.

'He regretted it. I know I saw regret! Does he regret telling me- revealing himself to stop the bloodshed and save my life? Does he regret meeting me?' Sasuke bowed his head, wishing the memories of the loud blonde would stop assaulting him.

'Naruto, why did you leave?' As much as he wanted to convince himself that Naruto had never existed, Sasuke knew otherwise. It was impossible for anyone to pretend to be so compassionate, so regretful, and so kind. It was impossible for a demon- a demon who was not supposed to have a heart- to have been his Naruto. It was impossible for a demon to act like that.

Naruto hadn't been acting. He had been real and he had been there, stealing Sasuke's heart during his all too brief stay.

And then he had left.

'Come back, Naruto. Please, just come back!'

Demon eyes steathily watched from the trees. He had been sent back by the newly appointed commander to watch until Kyuubi left and report back immediately.

The demon stretched his mouth in a wide, ugly grin. Kyuubi had just left, and would not be back anytime soon apparently.

'Time to go.' he thought, creeping away quietly and breaking into a run as soon as he cleared the trees.

Yami watched the open stretch of land before her quietly. She had been asked to pull a double as the next watch had only one person- the other nin had gotten sick and they were trying to make sure two people had watch every shift.

Yami didn't really mind- Gaara hadn't come back yet and she was worried.

'He never said when he'd be back, but it's so late. Maybe he just decided to stay with his friend?' Yami thought, scanning the horizen. She froze.

A very large, obviously demonic figure was rushing towrds the Sand, as though he'd die if he didn't make it. Yami turned, mouth open to call the alarm, but something made her pause. There was something... familiar about that figure.

Yami turned back, just in time to see the demon's form shrink and twist, ending up in a silhouette she'd recognize anywhere.

'Gaara?' she thought, shocked.

Gaara nearly swore, feeling the slightly deep cut across his chest. He couldn't bandage it -not that he had any bandages- from this angle. Since it wasn't healing and he still had some chakra left, he assumed that the demon that had hurt him had poison claws. He sat against a large tree in the copse he was resting in for a moment while he made up an excuse for his wounds.

A soft rustling in the trees caught his attention. His head snapped in the direction.

"Who's there?" he questioned. A small figure stepped out from behind the tree.

"It's just me." Yami said, staring at him a bit strangely. He ignored the look on her face.

"Yami." Gaara acknowledged, looking away, relieved that the demons hadn't split and attacked the Sand as well. He heard Yami gasp and suddenly she was standing next to him.

"How did that happen?" she asked, pointing to his chest. As his shirt was mostly in pieces, he was bare-chested and his wound was very evident.

He shifted a bit uncomfortably.

"It's nothing." he said.

"Nothing, huh? Why does it look poisoned, then?" Yami demanded, kneeling next to him. "I brought a first aid kit- let me see the wound." Gaara made a noncommittal noise but he did move his arms and sat facing her so that she could get a better veiw of the damage. She carefully looked it over before reaching into the small pack she had brought and getting out the first aid kit. She dug through it, talking to him at the same time.

"It's not as bad as I thought- the poison should be easily washed out and then we just have to bandage it up." She quickly went about her task, pretending not to notice the way Gaara let out a small hiss or the way he tensed when she used the disinfectant on his wound. In return, Gaara pretended that the way he tensed and the hisses he let out had nothing to do with Yami and everything to do with the sting of disinfectant.

Yami wrapped a roll of bandages around the reheaded man tightly.

"There." she said, letting her hands drop. Gaara inspected her handiwork.

"Thanks." he said.

"No problem." Silence fell as the tension rose. There was something that she was holding back and not wanting to say, but she didn't know quite how to say it. She chose the direct path.

"I... saw you earlier today. A few minutes ago- that's how I knew you were here." Gaara froze in his position, still looking at her.

"And?" he asked.

"I saw... I saw you transform." she blurted. She looked at him in shock- she couldn't believe that she had just blurted that out! He carefully kept his face and tone impassive, not letting himself feel the pain from her assumed disgust.

"Were you surprised?" he asked softly, leaning his head down so that bangs covered his eyes and made him more unreadable.

"Yes." Yami said in a small voice.

"Were you... disgusted?" Gaara replied, nearly whispering. He didn't know what it was about the occasion, but he felt the need to whisper. Yami didn't say anything. Taking this as another affirmitive answer, he stood. He turned and began to walk out of the clearing when Yami's voice stopped him. It was barely above a whisper, but he heard her clearly.

"... never." He turned, shock forming his features as he saw her crying.

'She... wasn't disgusted when she found out what I am?'

"I knew that you were different from the very first moment I met you. I never expected THIS, but..." she lifted her tear filled gaze to his. "...I don't care. I don't care that you're a demon. It doesn't matter to me if you're not human!" She suddenly stood, turning away from him in embarrassment.

'I didn't mean to say all that!' she thought, walking away.

"Wait!" she heard Gaara say, a wall of sand exploding up in front of her. She almost yelped, but knew that this was Gaara's doing, and she trusted him.

"Gaara?" she questioned, ready to turn and face him when she felt strong arms envelop her in a comforting embrace.

Gaara had no clue what came over him. He just knew that the one he loved had said that she didn't care that he was a demon.

And now she was leaving.

The wall had exploded up in front of her almost of its own free will. He reaized that she was getting closer- his body had been instinctinvely moving towards her.

"Gaara?" he heard her say, just before he wrapped his arms around her from behind. It just felt so right, to hold her like this. The wall of sand dropped, no longer needed.

"I've killed many people before." Gaara said. Yami nodded. "I have killed many humans. I could kill you."

"I don't think that you would." Yami said evenly. She believed it too. She trusted him.

"I confirm my existence by killing. What makes you think that I won't kill you?" Gaara asked, more curious than threatening.

"I trust you." Yami said.

"You're not disgusted or repulsed? You don't hate me?"

"I could never hate you, Gaara. Of course I'm not disgusted."

"How can you trust something like me?" Gaara asked, his eyes taking on a soft, sad shine. Yami broke free of his arms to turn around and stare him in the face.

"You are not a 'thing', Gaara! You are a person, a man, and whether you're human or demon I don't care! I love you." Yami said, so caught up in what she was saying she didn't realize what she had revealed. Gaara stared at her with wide eyes, totally caught off guard.

'She... loves me as well? She said that she didn't mind me being a demon, but not minding and loving me despite that are two very different things.'

"-I can't believe that you just called yourself a th-"

"You," he interrupted, ignoring the look Yami shot his way. "-love me?" Yami's eyes widened as she went back over her speech in her mind.

"Um..." she said, looking at the ground. She didn't notice Gaara lift his arms to hug her again until she was already in his arms. She looked up, blushing.

"Gaara, what-" her question was cut off as Gaara took that moment to kiss her softly- almost hesitantly- on her lips. Her eyes widened, but her mouth knew what to do. She began kissing back, relishing in the softness and sweetness of his lips. They were softer than the finest silk and the taste reminded her of a sweet mango.

Gaara was in his own private heaven when she started kissing back. He had dreamt of kissing her, just like this. Soft and sweet. Her lips were as smooth as rose petals and she tasted sweeter than a rose smelled, if that made any sense. They slowly broke apart, Gaara staring intently into her eyes for some sign that she liked the kiss. She blushed again at the hungry look in his eyes, slightly dazed as she put a hand to her lips.

"Gaara..." she breathed, then tenatively inched her face forward until she kissed him again. He responded to her chaste kiss, not allowing it to deepen just yet. They broke away again and she leaned her head against his bare chest, hands coming up behind him to keep him close.

"I love you so much..." she said. He kissed the top of her head.

"I know. I love you too." he said. She smiled as tears of joy streamed down her face. He felt the wetness on his skin and used one of his arms to turn her chin up so he could look into her eyes again.

"What's wrong?" he asked, eyes showing concern. She smiled.

"I'm just so happy." she said, eyes widening as he leaned down. He slowly kissed the tear tracks, stopping them from flowing.

"Don't cry." he said simply, almost as if begging her. She nodded, leaning up to capture his lips in another kiss. He returned it, but this time deepened the kiss by forcing her head back farther as he plunged his tongue into her mouth. She gasped, but soon enjoyed the kiss and returned it. The kiss seemed to go on for an eternity, but it only lasted a few minutes. They were both breathing a bit heavy at the end of it, and Yami was in a total daze.

Sounds in the trees alerted them to the approach of other nin.

"I guess I should have told them where I was going." Yami muttered. Gaara just smiled at her, letting his emotions onto his face freely for the first time in a long time.

"Let's go back." Gaara grabbed her hand lightly, finally allowing himself to show her affection now that he knew of her emotions.

"Yeah. Let's." Yami squeezed his hand slightly, and together they walked towards the nins searching for Yami.

Sorry... The whole confession thing was written before the start of this fic, so they might be a bit OOC here. I altered to scene slightly to fit in better, but I just couldn't rewrite it. Gaara was a bit too open, but I did change some of his responses so he'd be more like the Gaara we all know and love and have come to expect from this fic. I tried to explain it at the end, but I don't know how well this worked.  
See ya next week! 


	9. Chapter 9

This chapter isn't the best, but... ah, well, enjoy!

Quietly, demons descended upon Konoha. They had spent the better part of an hour discussing attack plans- and now it was time to enact their plan. Now, when the Leaf was at its weakest.

They had one goal in mind: Kill the Hokage.

Their beloved Kyuubi-sama couldn't possibly like humans, and so they had blamed Shukaku for the influence. It was well-known that Shukaku's father had kept a few human mistresses long ago, even after he had had Shukaku by his mate. It was against the law to take a mistress when bound by the ritual of mating, and he had been executed for his transgression. Shukaku had been on his own since then.

Kyuubi must have been bewitched by the human leader- with the death of the caster, the spell placed upon their leader would die as well. Kyuubi would go back to his demon ways, if only they killed the Hokage.

They slipped past the watchmen, the demons with better noses at the head of the pack. They were following the scent of Sasuke for now- they could terrorize and kill the villagers later.

Sasuke quietly watched the silent streets of Konoha, reflecting on the events that had taken place scant hours before. It had seemed like an eternity.

'How could that happen?' Sasuke wondered. 'Why- of all people- did it have to be him? Why did Naruto have to be the demon general?' He smiled sadly, shaking his head. 'When did my question change to 'why was Naruto Kyuubi' from 'Why did Kyuubi pose as Naruto'?' Internally, he had already accepted the facts and moved on- now he had questions and wanted answers.

'Why did he leave right away? Why didn't he stay and explain himself?'

Deciding that he would get no more answers that night, he decided to start his daily ritual of cleaning and then sleeping. He turned back to go to the bathroom, removing his shirt and casually checking the mark in a mirror. It hadn't changed at all- it hadn't darkened or anything since the picture had become clear.

'Now that I think about it, it looks strangely like ... Kyuubi.' Sasuke thought, squinting and taking a closer look at the figure on his back. He counted the tails. 'One... two... three... Nine. There are nine- exactly the number that Kyuubi had. It can't be coincidence- it's connected somehow...'

A loud crashing interrupted his train of thought. He spun around and lunged for his weapon's pouch- he had taken it off when he had gotten home and left it on the table.

He was two feet from his weapons when a large hand shoved him against the wall, face-first. Sasuke 'oofed' and craned his neck to look behind him.

A large demon stood behind him, grinning maniacally. More demons were coming in behind him, until the room was filled with the bloodthirsty beasts.

"What are you doing here? Didn't your leader tell you to leave us alone?" Sasuke spat, unaware of the mutterings of the demons behind him- they had seen the mark on his back, and -unlike Sasuke- they knew exactly what it meant.

"We're under new leadership, human." one demon finally said, stepping forward. "How did you manage to enchant Lord Kyuubi so thoroughly as to gain that mark!"

"Enchant?" Sasuke was surprised, to say the least. "I never-"

"Don't play games, human! You will remove the spell you have cast upon our lord or it will be ended with your life!" the demon roared. Sasuke's eyes narrowed, the death-glare's effect lessened by the fact that he only had one eye to glare at the with, the other being pressed to the wall.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Sasuke said.

"Liar!" The demon charged forward and slashed down on his back, through the mark. Sasuke winced, but allowed himself to show no other signs pf pain. "How do you bear this mating mark, then? Kyuubi-sama's mating mark no less!" Sasuke's eyes widened.

'Mating mark-!' The dark-haired man quickly regained his composure.

"I don't know what-"

"Don't lie, human!" the demon roared again, placing a single deadly claw against Sasuke's throat. "Your spell ends now!" The demon drew back his claw, wanting to bring it through Sasuke's neck in one clean sweep, hitting hard and fast.

Sasuke closed his eyes- he was pinned, and had no way to get out. He was going to die.

Surprisingly enough, the thoughts that filled his head were not those of the villagers, his friends, or his subordinates. They were filled with thoughts of bright sunshine locks and sky-blue eyes, adorable whisker marks marring the person's cheeks.

"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled, hearing the displacement of air as the claw came down towards his throat, hoping against impossible hope that Naruto could somehow hear him, and somehow hear how sorry Sasuke was for not asking him to stay.

The demon's claw wasn't even an inch from his throat when a dark shadow hit the demon hard in the side and sent him crashing to the floor. Sasuke opened his eyes in surprise as the demon holding him down released him suddenly, sliding to the floor.

'Naruto?' he thought, looking at the blonde before him.

Naruto had been asleep, tears wearing him out, when suddenly he awoke and sat bolt upright.

Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

'Sasuke.' his mind instantly hit on. Something was happening- something bad, and Sasuke was in danger. Before he realized what he was doing, Naruto was up and running as fast as he could, getting through the forest and through the streets of Konoha within a minute.

'Hurry, hurry- you'll be too late!' he urged himself, telling his exhausted body to move just a little faster.  
There! He had reached Sasuke's house, noticing with a sinking heart that an entire wall had been torn out by demons. He pushed himself faster, faster...

He burst into Sasuke's room just in time to see one of his former subordinates bring his claw down, preparing to decapitate the Uchiha. Naruto launched himself across the room, tackling the demon just barely before the demon accomplished his goal.  
He and the demon went tumbling down onto the floor, Naruto rolling up to a defensive stance and launching himself at the arm holding Sasuke to the wall. Sasuke dropped, eyes opening in what Naruto assumed to be surprise. He stood defensively in front of the dark-haired man, keeping a close eye on the demons now massing around him.

"I thought my orders were clear- my protection. My lands." Naruto hissed, obviously furious. A few demons before him quaked at his wrath, afarid, but some of the stronger ones looked proud of their actions.

"This human has bewitched you. We would have freed you with his death, but we will defer the honor to you." a demon said, deep voice making the house shake on its foundations. Naruto felt rather than saw Sasuke freeze behind him. Naruto was worried for the nin- Sasuke was defenseless, not having his weapons on him and too exhausted to manipulate chakra.  
Sasuke was completely relying on him for once.

Naruto swallowed, then replied.

"All of Konoha and Sand are under my protection. That includes Sasuke- especially Sasuke." Naruto said, not looking behind him.

"Because the little human wretch has fooled you so thoroughly you caused your mark to appear on his back?" another demon demanded. "We will kill him- it will pass, we promise!"

Naruto froze.

'They saw... did they tell him anything!' He risked a glance back at Sasuke who- Naruto just noticed, swallowing thickly- was shirtless. 'Oh crap, they must have just seen it- maybe they didn't say anything?' He turned back to the demons.

"That mark appeared by itself- leave him alone." Naruto said, praying to whoever would listen that no one noticed the desperation in his voice. 'Please believe me, don't say anything... please, just shut up...'

"A mating mark doesn't just 'appear'! That human bastard has enchanted you!" the demons shrieked. Naruto felt the bottom go out of his stomach.

"Leave. Every single one of you- out of my sight. If I see you again I'll kill you." Naruto said flatly, allowing his chakra to flare and begin his body's transformation, just in case his men decided to be difficult.

"Never!" With that as their battle cry, they raced forward.

'Obviously a mentality of 'If we can't have him no one will'.' Naruto thought dryly, ducking several long swipes of deadly claws and snapping his muzzle at a few demons that come too close. 'I can't fight here- I have to get outside.' That thought in mind, he turned to Sasuke and quickly snapped the Uchiha up in his jaws, careful not to actually harm the man. Sasuke was shocked- Naruto could tell by the way his eyes widened with fear as Kyuubi came down upon him- but Naruto had no time to worry about that now as he curled his muscles and sprang, his leap carrying him away from the demons in the Uchiha mansion. He heard them give chase, but ran to a safe distence into town before dropping Sasuke- now slightly wet and musty-smelling with the fox's saliva.

"Stay." Kyuubi growled, leaping back to engage his former comrades in combat. He wouldn't allow any to get close to Sasuke, even if it meant blocking a few hard shots and desperate leaps with his own body.

Kyuubi ripped through one, immediately leaping to the next and biting down hard. The demon howled, scratching at his face and his flank, but Kyuubi just held on through the pain and the blood, wrenching the demon's neck so the creature suffoated on its own blood.

No time to relax- on to the next demon stupid enough to face him.

'There are too many!' Naruto thought, worried, as he kept on ripping demons down but only more seemed to take the place of the dead demons. He lost himself in the rhythm of battle and bloodlust, moving with a speed he hadn't known he possessed and barely aware of the humans behind him watching in awe and fear as he mercilessly ripped the demons down, letting the corpses fall where they wanted, and not seemingly slowed by any number of wounds.

Finally, they were all dead. Kyuubi was exhausted, feeling his eyes close involutarily as his tired body dropped.

His last conscious thought was not to hit the buildings, not to cause any more damage. He felt his body shrink and twist, landing on the ground as Naruto, the blonde ninja, and not Kyuubi, the nine-tailed fox.

His mind faded to black seconds after hitting the ground, unaware of the humans surrounding him and creeping ever closer.

Sasuke dropped to his knees, shocked.

'Naruto looked so... scared.' he thought, recalling when Naruto had glanced at him after the demon's had mentioned the 'mating mark' again. 'Like... he didn't want me to know.'

Sasuke watched blankly as Kyuubi fought, ripping apart the demons and taking quite a few blows himself to hold back the bloodthirsty beasts. Sasuke was so entranced and so out of it that he didn't realize when Kyuubi had finished- he only realized that he was done when he saw the fox disappear from his veiw, dropping and morphing. Seeing that Kyuubi had fallen blocks away from where he was, he began to run, not caring that he was only half-dressed, or that the civilians were running away from Kyuubi and the nins running towards the fallen demon.

Sasuke ran as fast as he could, stopping when he got to the edge of the block where Naruto lay, horrified at what he saw.  
Nins had gathered around the exhausted demon and were taking their anger and hurt out on Naruto as he lay helpless. They kicked the demon's ribs, making him yelp in his unconscious state. They threw out cruel taunts, demanding that Naruto get up and face them like a man.

"Stop it! Stop it this instant!" Sasuke yelled, coming to his senses, forcing his body to move again. Recognizing his voice, the group of nins stopped, more out of surprise than anything else.

"Hokage-sama, we were merely taking care of the demon general. If he awakens he could kill us all." Sasuke gave the man a hard glance, his steps not pausing for long.

"You owe him your life. Everyone does." Sasuke said, kneeling next to the blonde and carefully lifting him up. He heard sounds of protest behind him, but ignored it in favor of checking the blonde over.

'Not good.' Sasuke thought, noticing how pale the blonde was. His skin seemed almost white from blood loss, though Sasuke knew that the demon could lose more blood and not die- it wasn't good though, how much he had lost. A bruise was beginning to form around the blonde's eye, and around the right side of his lips. Blood trickled from a cut over the blonde's eye and ran from the right side of his mouth. The blonde breathed shallowly. Sasuke glanced farther down, noticing how thin the blonde's hands were- overexertion, causing Naruto to use up body fats to keep his body going. A slight depression in Naruto's side indicated the liklihood of a broken rib or two, any bruises hidden by his clothes. The orange jacket the blonde wore as ripped in several places, blood dying the material and making the fabric stick to sensitive skin. One of Naruto's wrists was twisted at an odd angle- most likely broken in the fall. One of his collarbones was bent, obviously broken. A leg hung limp, the ankle twisted- most likely broken in two places. Blood ran down Naruto's legs from his torso and numerous cuts on his legs. In short, Naruto was a mess and needed a med-nin, badly.

"Can someone get Tsuande or Sakura here? He needs a medic." Sasuke said, glancing around at the stunned ninja. "What are you waiting for? Get them!" he commanded, begging silently for one of them to get over their shock and help.

No one moved, except for one nin that moved closer.

"Hokage-sama, I think you might need to rest- we'll take care of the demon." Sasuke was about to scream at the man when running footsteps alerted him to more people arriving.

He was extremely happy when the footsteps turned out to belong to none other than Tsuande and Sakura, carrying medical kits. They dropped down beside Sasuke, Sakura explaining as Sasuke handed the limp blonde over to the older medic.

"We saw Kyuubi fighting and saw him get pretty badly hurt- we thought that we might be able to help and grabbed a few things for out kits. We came as quickly as we could." Sakura said quietly, looking Sasuke in the eye. Sasuke just nodded.

"Thanks." he said, turning to Tsuande as she straightened up.

"There is a possibility of internal bleeding, a broken collerbone, ankle, wrist, and a bone in his leg. One of his ribs is also cracked, and he might have a concussion- the bruises and cuts aren't doing a ton of damage, but he needs a transfusion." Tsuande said, serious. "We need to get him to a hospital, but we can't jar him too much."

"Use a healing jutsu- something to patch him up enough for me to carry him. We can give him proper treatment when we're at the hospital." Sasuke said, in a tone that allowed for no arguement. Sakura and Tsuande looked at him, surprised, but then Tsuande nodded and began forming signs to bring out her chakra and mold it. Soon she was healing Naruto, and the blonde was looking quite a bit better- Tsuande declared that he was well enough to be carried, so long as Sasuke was careful. Sasuke barely heard and gently lifted the blonde, silently walking to the nearest hospital and not even looking to see if Tsuande and Sakura were following.

'You'll be all right, Naruto. I'll make sure of it.' Sasuke silently promised the unconscious blonde in his arms.

A/N: Good? Bad? Interesting? Confusing? Too fast? Too slow? Ooc? Tell me! Hopefully we all enjoyed this chapter- see you next week. 


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Thanks to all my reviewers- and I apologize ahead of time for this chapter.

Naruto stirred, shaking his head slightly from side to side.

He ached all over, and felt like even opening his eyes would be too much of an effort.

"Is he waking up?" A man's voice, one he recognized... one dear to him...

"I don't know- he seems to be." A woman, one he had met a few times... who?

"Thank you for saving him." Naruto's eyes snapped open as the man spoke again.

'Sasuke?' he thought, just moving his eyes to look at the dark-haired Hokage and not his head- he had no clue what kind of condition he was in and didn't want to aggrevate it.

"So, you are awake!" Another girl spoke, from his other side. Naruto rolled his eyes over back towards the voice.  
Sakura, sitting with Lee and smiling down at him. Naruto was extremely confused.

'Maybe they don't know I'm Kyuubi?' he thought hopefully, but realizing that Sasuke probably would have told them. 'Why do they still look at me like that? Don't they hate me for lying? Hells, don't they hate me for just being me?'

"Welcome back." The first woman said. Naruto rolled his eyes back over, feeling the strain behind his eyeballs. He felt a spark of recognition when he saw the woman- Tsuande, the lead healer in Konoha.

'Why is she here? Why am I still alive? I mean, I collapsed from exhaustion, but I was still aware enough when the villagers started hitting me...' Naruto would have scowled, had he had the energy. He had felt each hit, but hadn't had the strength to get up and fight back or run away before falling prey to unconsciousness. He glanced around the room, eyes finally resting on Sasuke. Naruto blinked in shock.

The Hokage looked tired, like he hadn't slept much lately, and had dark rings under his sunken eyes. He seemed... thinner, too, like he had eaten in a while.

"How... long-" Naruto coughed, throat dry and scratchy. "-have I been... out?" he asked. He was surprised he had the energy to speak.

"About a week. A few demons have continued to attack-" Naruto's eyes went wide, but then he narrowed them in anger. "- but they weren't as strong or as organized. We had very little trouble killing them." Sasuke said quietly. Naruto nodded, relaxing a tension he hadn't realized building in his shoulders.

"Glad to have you back." Tsuande said. "For a while we weren't sure if you were going to make it." She smiled, and Naruto found himself reflexively smiling back.

"Good to be back." he said.

"We'll leave you to rest, now that we know that you won't die." Sasuke said stiffly, looking downwards so that his bangs covered his eyes, making him even more unreadable than usual. "As Hokage, I have a few questions for the demon general Kyuubi. Report to my quarters when you're released from the hospital." With that, Sasuke got up and left, leaving a shocked silence in the room behind him.

'Why was he so cold?' the four ocupants wondered- Sasuke had seemed slightly happy just a moment ago...

'What got into him?'

Tsuande was the first to get over her shock, shooing Lee and Sakura out of the room. She quickly checked Naruto over and told him that he would be as right as rain in after a day or two of strict bed rest. Naruto complied silently, thinking about the Uchiha.

Two Days Later

Naruto swallowed nervously as he knocked on the door quietly. He had been dreading facing Sasuke since he had first transformed in front of the man, less than two weeks ago. He had known that Sasuke would have questions, but hadn't really wanted to answer them.

The door opened a minute later, the dark-haired man standing there.

"Come in." Sasuke said stonily, moving aside so Naruto could do as ordered. Naruto stepped forward, ignoring the ominous way the door closed behind him.

"Follow me." Sasuke said simply, walking ahead of the blonde. Naruto was lead to a small, impersonal living room, two chairs simply placed facing each other and a small table in between them.

Naruto gulped again as Sasuke took a seat and motioned for Naruto to sit down. He felt like he was being interrogated- which wasn't all too for from the truth, actually...

"As I am Hokage and you are considered a prisoner of war, all my questions must be answered with the complete truth or you could face anything from a fine to execution, depending on the seriousness and frequency of your lies." Sasuke said. "Firstly, I want to know why the demons attacked us."

"Well, you see-" Naruto's mouth had gone very dry, nervous as he was. "- you built your villages on top of some holy grounds for demons, where some of us pray for strength and stuff. It would be like complete strangers coming in and wrecking your, ah, 'churches'." he said, explaining as best he could.

"Why did you not simply ask us to move?"

"We didn't want to- well, most didn't." Naruto said, seeing Sasuke's eyes narrow. "I mean, we're bloodthirsty by nature- it takes quite a bit of effort to suppress the need, and some can't suppress it at all. We were killing ourselves off, and then we had a new target. We didn't need much more of an excuse for war."

"I see." Sasuke said coldly, then continued to ask question after question about various military things- the strengths and weaknesses of demons as a whole, what they could do to further arm themselves against demons, the like.

Before Naruto noticed, hours had gone by and dusk had fallen.

"I- I should be going now. It's late." Naruto said, standing.

"One more question before you leave- and remember you are still under obligation to answer me with the full truth." Sasuke said. Naruto froze, a cold shiver of fear passing through him. Sasuke had carefully avoided one particular subject during his questioning- a subject Naruto had hoped would be forgotten. One that Naruto did not want to talk about.

'Please, ask me anything but what I think you're going to ask, anything but something about the-'

"I have a mark on my back, in the shape of a nine-tailed fox. The demons that attacked me a little while back told me it was a 'mating mark'. What do you know about it? Why is it there?" Sasuke asked quietly.

"That was two questions." Naruto quickly pointed out, hopes dashed. Sasuke had asked the worst possible question- and he was obligated to answer.

"Answer them both, then." Sasuke said, glaring slightly at the blonde. Naruto swallowed.

"Oh, about that, when a demon choses someone-" Naruto had to stifle scared, nervous laughter at this point, hoping that telling it like it was no big deal would cause Sasuke to shrug off the importance of the mark. "- a mark appears on the chosen's back. It's harmless, really- don't be concerned about it!" Naruto deliberately left out as much information as possible regarding the mark.

"You didn't answer my question. That can't be all you know of it. Answer me, Kyuubi." Naruto cringed, hearing the anger in Sasuke's voice, Naruto's demon name spat out like a curse. It was said with such venom it almost hurt to hear it.

"The mark doesn't have to affect you- can we just leave it at that?" Naruto asked, hating the fact that some of his fear showed in his voice. he looked down, unable and unwilling to meet Sasuke's eyes.

"No, we cannot. Naruto-" The blonde looked up in shock at his real name. "- tell me what it means."

"It... the mark..." Naruto sighed. He had never been very good at the subtlty thing, and usually just burst out with whatever he had to say, but this was different. This was too important for him to just laugh it off. He sighed again, looking down at the floor as he spoke. He didn't let a hint of emotion enter his voice, trying to speak as tonelessly as possible.

"The mark is very important to a demon. When he or she finds someone they want to be with- forever, not just for a short while- the mark of the demon appears on the chosen one's back. The mark shows that a demon has an interest in the person- is physically attracted as well as enjoying the other's personality and intelligence. That's all it takes for the makr to appear, though it doesn't finalize and darken until the demon... claims the person. Once claimed, a person is off-limits. It's a binding of souls- eternally binding you to one person. Not many demons still attempt the mating ritual because they don't want to be tied down. To be rid of the mark all you have to do is sleep with someone else." Naruto turned, feeling the sting of tears as he saw- out of the corner of his eye- Sasuke's shocked look.

"I answered your damn questions, okay!" Naruto said, walking steadily away from Sasuke. "It doesn't /do/ anything, it's just a mark. Feel free to get rid of it. You have my blessing." Naruto said sarcastically, feeling the words sting his heart.  
He was almost to the door when a strong hand grabbed his shoulder and spun him back around. He came face to face with Sasuke.

"What do you want now?" Naruto asked, trying to pull away and not look at Sasuke.

"So, this mark basically means that you love me, doesn't it?" Sasuke asked. His voice was carefully toneless, Naruto noted with a hint of despair.

'Probably doesn't want me to go ballistic and kill everyone.' he thought sarcastically.

"The deal was for one more question- I answered two." Naruto said. Sasuke's grip just tightened as he shifted Naruto's body away from the door and slammed him against the wall next to it. Naruto was taken by surprise and his head hit lightly against the wall- just enough to cause a slight bump, nothing more. Temporarily forgetting who had slammed him into the wall, Naruto looked up, ready to demand an apology-

"Answer me." Sasuke said, scowling. Naruto closed his mouth, screwing his eyes shut before he replied.

"Yes, goddamnit, yes! How much more do you want to humiliate me before-" Naruto's shouts were cut off rather abruptly as a pair of gentle lips were pressed to his.

Naruto's eyes opened wide as Sasuke pulled away, the harsh grip on his shoulder relaxed to a gentle pressure.

"Sa- suke?" Naruto asked, shocked.

"I love you." Sasuke said, dark eyes boring into Naruto's. Naruto just gaped as Sasuke kept talking. "I tried to convince myself to hate you, but it wasn't working so I just gave up."

"You? Gave up?" Naruto echoed. Sasuke nodded.

"I'm... happy, being with you. That's what love is, isn't it?" Sasuke asked. "I don't know exactly what else to call the feeling but happiness, and I don't want it to go away." Naruto threw his arms around Sasuke, holding him close.

"Yeah- that's what love is." Naruto said.

"If you want..." Sasuke said quietly, placing his arms around the blonde. "...I'll be your mate." Naruto froze.

"Do you know what that means? How serious that kind of commitment is?" Naruto asked softly. Sasuke shook his head.

"Explain it to me."

"It goes much deeper than human marriage. It binds our souls- literally. It's for forever." Naruto pulled back to look into Sasuke's eyes. "Are you sure...?"

"Would I have said anything if I was not?" Sasuke countered. Naruto smiled and leaned forward, kissing the Hokage. Sasuke moaned lightly as Naruto's tongue found his. When they pulled away for air, Naruto spoke again.

"Release your chakra." he said.

"Hmm?" Sasuke made a confused noise.

"Chakra is connected to our souls- we have to give each other all of ourselves to form the connection." Naruto- face flushed- backed away hesitantly. "Unless it's too soon-"

His answer was a rush of outpouring chakra from Sasuke, who pulled the blonde back close to him. Smiling ferally, Naruto released his chakra as well.

I don't think I need to explain what happened next.

A/N: Gah! Sorry about that- I don't know how well this chapter turned out. It was a pain in the ass to write- and I still think they moved too fast and Sasuke is OOC- but I didn't know how to rewrite it. For the sake of the plot, they had to ge together kinda quickly... sorry! Hopefully I'll see you next week- if not, then week after! 


End file.
